In India, people have been rushing to buy gold jewellery since the beginning of the week amid fears of a complete ban on its sale, The Economic Times reports.
Gold jewellery is in high demand among Indians as wedding gifts ahead of the country's traditional wedding seasons in June-August and December. The rush has been fuelled, among other things, by consumer concerns over higher import duties on gold and a possible increase in the Goods and Services Tax from the current 3%. Buying of gold jewellery, both wholesale and retail, has reached “panic levels“ in the past two days, said Surendra Mehta, national secretary of the Indian Gold and Jewellery Manufacturers Association.
Jewellery sales have increased by up to 20% after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi late last week urged citizens to refrain from buying gold for a year to conserve foreign exchange to cushion the economic impact of the war in the Middle East.
India remains one of the world's largest importers of gold. Almost all of its domestic demand is met by external supplies. Gold in the country is bought as a store of value, for celebrations, especially weddings, and as an investment.
The total estimated value of gold in Indian households as of January reached 445 trillion rupees (4.7 trillion USD), which is about 125% of the South Asian republic's GDP. Against the backdrop of rising global prices of the precious metal, more than 1.4 billion Indians are actively investing in gold and transferring their financial savings into physical assets. As a result, the current value of the gold fund of Indians at the beginning of the calendar year 2026. was only slightly lower than the market capitalization of the 30 largest Indian companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which amounted to 460 trillion rupees (4.8 trillion USD).
According to statistics from the World Gold Council (WGC), at the end of 2025, investments by financial funds and the Indian population in the purchase of gold bars and coins increased by 20% year-on-year to 91.6 tons and amounted to 10 billion USD. Investment demand in India reached 40% of the total circulation of gold, which was the highest level in history.