Commodity Champions: Will festive season perk up gold, diamond demand?

The gift-giving season is here and with it comes a surge in demand that many retailers rely on. Last year, the jewellery business saw sales sparkle as pent-up demand helped jewellers have their best Diwali in 25 years.

However, the surge in prices of rough diamonds along with rising discretionary spending has given rise to worries of a softening demand during this festival season. A spike in polished exports and rough diamond imports has helped keep the sector hopeful but will that be enough? Sachin Jain, managing director of De Beers India discussed the same.

The yellow metal has been lacklustre in quarter three of the calendar year with the prices dropping to the lowest levels since March 2021. However, a weakening rupee and concerns of a looming recession could make gold a safe haven for buying yet again.

So is it time for you to jump on the bandwagon as well? If yes, there are many ways to do so. Although physical buying is more traditional, the rise of gold ETFs and mutual funds (MFs) make buying the yellow metal as simple as a click of a button. So should you be looking at digital gold this festival season? Vikram Dhawan, head of commodities at Nippon India Mutual Fund shared his views.