‘Thailand targets youth for silver jewellery sales’

Thailand is making a strong bid to export its silver jewellery to India to woo millennials, taking advantage of gold prices that had shot up recently, making the yellow metal unaffordable for many people.

According to trade members, Youth tended to prefer affordable fashion jewellery made of sterling silver, whose properties include brightness, unlike pure silver.

Towards this, Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce, Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) on Saturday conducted the “Silverline Trade from Bangkok to Bombay Roadshow”. The show targeted members of the Indian gem and jewellery sector, to urge them to visit a forthcoming trade show in Bangkok and place orders to help meet demand in India.

Supatra Sawaengsri, consul (Commercial) and director, Thai Trade Centre, Mumbai, said Thai silver jewellery had special significance for India and Thailand can meet the growing demand from the Indian subcontinent.

“The millennials like silver jewellery and Thailand is the right partner [for] the Indian jewellery industry,” she said.

Saiyam Mehra, COA Member, All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council said, “Silver, the ‘democratic’ metal is well within everyone’s reach [and] is gaining ground because it’s precious yet affordable. India and Thailand have many similarities and commonalties in their gems and jewellery trade.”

“Indian silver jewellery exporters, like their Thai counterparts, have a strong handcrafting orientation, design database supported by quality manufacturing operations, mostly by MSMEs. India and Thailand can collaborate and explore synergies to enhance their global exports,” he added.

Mehul Shah, vice-president, Bharat Diamond Bourse and director, Star Brillian said, “With the support of the Thai government, DITP is aggressively pushing export activities to India, Japan, U.S. and the Middle East. Our members will be happy to supply Thai jewellery to the nook and corner of the country.”

Thai officials said the 66th Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair would be held in the period February 23-27 in Bangkok.

How to invest in gold with little money?

A Gold has always been a crowd-puller. Many families purchase physical gold either in the form of gold coins or jewellery. However, with the current prices of the yellow metal ( worth of Rs 50,000 for 10g), coupled with the financial difficulties and liquidity issues several people had to face owing to the pandemic, how does one purchase gold this time?

Turns out, you don’t have to wait to accumulate a large amount of money to buy gold. Today, digital gold, gold ETFs, gold mutual funds, SGBs and other avenues of gold investment are highly accessible to people, even to those lacking any experience in the field of investments.

Thus, when the immense prices of gold create difficulties in physical ownership, you can choose to acquire the metal digitally for you and your loved ones against minimal costs this festive season. Here’s how:

Different Ways to Invest in Gold against Minimal Expenses

Digital gold

Digital gold is a convenient and cost-effective way of purchasing gold online in small fractions (as low as Rs 10 ) You can buy, sell and accumulate gold of 99.9 percent purity anytime at the prevailing market price. The digital gold you purchase is stored in secured vaults and insured. Certain investment platforms also allow you to acquire your owned asset in physical form. Besides this, the increased convenience for people, especially those with no prior knowledge of investments, is an added benefit for digital gold. Today, almost anyone with a smartphone can start investing in gold from the comfort of their homes.

Gold ETFs

Gold exchange-traded funds are bought and sold directly through the stock market. Thus, owning such a gold asset on paper is almost similar to physical gold ownership. The prices of the gold stocks closely resemble those of its prices in the market as well. All you need to start investing in ETFs is a Demat account.

Gold Mutual Funds

These funds invest in gold reserves directly or indirectly. They usually invest in stocks of mining companies, physical gold, and stocks of gold producing and distribution syndicates. The performance of these funds is usually linked with the performance of gold prices in the country.

Sovereign gold bonds

SGBs are issued by the Reserve Bank of India, offering assured returns of 2.5 percent every year. The minimum amount that you can invest in these bonds is equal to that of the value of 1 gm gold.

However, such bonds are not available at all times. Instead, the RBI opens periodic windows during which it sells these to investors. However, this investment makes for a viable option if you are looking to invest for the long-term. The maturity term for SGBs is 8 years.

Apart from these, many jewellers across the country offer gold savings schemes that allow people to invest in instalments. Typically, a jeweller allows you to deposit a fixed amount every month for a specific period. At the end of the tenure, you can buy gold from the same jeweller at a value equal to the amount deposited plus a bonus (if offered by the jeweller). The gold can be purchased at the prevailing gold price upon reaching maturity.

As you can see, gold ownership is no longer limited to what you have in your bank and home lockers. You also need not spend lakhs on securing the gold for ownership. Today, through investments with nominal expenses, the prospect of owning the precious metal has undergone a massive transformation. Therefore, this season, give digital and paper gold a shot!

Engagements Driving Diamond Jewellery Demand This Holiday Season

US jewellers report that more couples than ever are buying diamond engagement rings, with bridal sales being their primary source of diamond jewellery demand in recent months. The findings were published today in De Beers Group’s latest Diamond Insight ‘Flash’ Report, which looks at the impact of the pandemic on relationships and engagements.

Interviews with independent jewellers around the country revealed that the rate of couples getting engaged has increased compared with the period when Covid-19 first had an impact in the US in the spring. In addition, despite challenging economic times, consumers were spending more than ever on diamond engagement rings – often upgrading in colour, cut and clarity, rather than size. Several jewellers speculated that with consumers spending less on elaborate weddings and/or honeymoons in the current environment, they had more to spend on choosing the perfect ring.

Interviewed for the report, Dr Terry Real, relationship therapist and author of the forthcoming book Us: The Power of Moving Beyond Me and You, said: “Part of the reason people are getting engaged during COVID is because there is so much distance between them and their community. The couple is intimate but thirsty for outside stimulation, for an environment to hold them beyond them. For a young person to have a performance of your love that’s witnessed is like water in the desert in this culture. The ring is that performance. Especially now.”

The report also includes findings from a national survey of 360 US women in serious relationships, undertaken in late October in collaboration with engagement and wedding website, The Knot. It found that the majority of respondents (54%) were thinking more about their engagement ring than the wedding itself (32%) or the honeymoon (15%), supporting jewelers’ hypothesis that engagement ring sales were benefiting from reduced wedding and travel budgets in light of Covid-19 restrictions.

When it came to researching engagement rings, online was by far the predominant channel for gaining ideas/inspiration at 86% of consumers surveyed, with 85% saying they had saved examples of styles they liked. Only a quarter of respondents said they had looked in-store at a physical location for design inspiration.

Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: “For many couples, the pandemic has brought them even closer together, in some instances speeding up the path to engagement after forming a deeper connection while experiencing lockdown and its associated ups and downs as a partnership. Engagement rings are taking on even greater symbolism in this environment, with retailers reporting couples are prepared to invest more than usual, particularly due to budget reductions in other areas.”

De Beers Group’s Diamond Insight Flash Report series is focused on understanding the US consumer perspective in light of Covid-19 and monitoring how it evolves as the crisis evolves. The company is augmenting its existing research programme with additional consumer, retailer and supply chain touch-basis to understand the pain points and the opportunities for stakeholders across the diamond pipeline.