Commodity Champions: Is digital gold an option worth considering? Experts discuss bets for Dhanteras

It's Dhanteras and that means that gold purchases are on the top of everyone's mind. The day that marks the first of a five-day-long Diwali celebrations has now become synonymous with investing in the yellow metal. So, it's no surprise that this time of year generally sees a massive 25 percent uptick in gold sales of which 60 percent is in the form of jewellery.

After a lacklustre 2020 that saw demand drop to 25-year lows, markets expect higher vaccination and lower cases to fuel a 15-20 percent rise in sales.

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However, physical gold isn't the only option for anyone looking to invest in the yellow metal; digital gold now seems to be in vogue, witnessing a 200 percent rise in sales as compared to last year. However, experts say that digital gold could work out to be more expensive given storage and GST charges. So, what bets should one take this Dhanteras? And is digital gold an option to consider?

Vikas Singh, MD and CEO, MMTC-PAMP, Sunil Nayak, CEO at Reliance Jewels and Ajoy Chawla, CEO of the Jewellery Division at Titan, discussed this further.

Chawla believes people are determined to make the most of this festival. The festival period anyway brings out people in large numbers and this time around people are out with a vengeance, he noted.

“We strongly believe that people are wanting to celebrate the present, forget the past, and leave aside the uncertainty of the future, this is the time to go out and celebrate. That mood is fantastic and infectious. It is true across the industry, for the jewellery category. In Tanishq also, we are seeing the very positive upbeat mood of customers for gold as well as diamond jewellery,” said Chawla.

According to Nayak, this financial year started on a very good note and it has sustained till now. “I am sure it will continue for the rest of the financial year also,” he said.

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“It started on a very good note. It has been fantastic for us from the north, from the east, we have been doing quite well in the west as well. South is just coming up now. Three regions have been doing very well. I am sure by the end of the day today, we should be doing fine in all four regions,” Nayak said.

This year is beating all expectations, said Singh.

“The kind of demand that we have been seeing has been unprecedented. We are struggling to keep pace with availability. Digital gold too continues to exceed all expectations. The engagement, the customer transactions, any cut which you may wish to take, whether it is regional as the case may be by ticket size, whatever the case may be, it has been on a very sharp uptick. So thankfully, the entire portfolio is looking good, and hopefully it is a good season ahead,” he added.