How India celebrated Akshay Tritiya 2021…

                                          Consumer sentiment remains muted                                                                                         Offline sales severely impacted 

Jewellery Market Bureau: The scenario 2021 was well described by the Somasundaram PR, Managing Director-India, World Gold Council on Akshaya Tritiya and said, “Akshaya Tritiya is celebrated under the shadow of covid pandemic for a second year in a row. Buying and gifting gold is considered auspicious on this day and it has huge cultural significance.”

He said, amid lockdowns in several parts of the country and an uneasy air of fear that hangs, consumer sentiment remains muted and offline sales have been severely impacted, particularly in major cities and gold consuming states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Many organised jewellers have, however, adopted digital and omnichannel strategies to reach out to their consumers, learning from the lockdown experience of 2020.

Coupled with decent pre-bookings before lockdown, these steps could redeem the festival from being a complete washout and present a slightly improved picture than last year. 

Vaibhav Saraf, Director, Aisshpra Gems and Jewels by sharing view expressed how moderate he had thought, “With the second wave of covid the situation is grim. However, Akshay Tritiya is an auspicious day for Hindu’s and we expect a moderate demand for jewellery and a good demand for gold coins that are booked on calls and will be delivered post lockdown, since most people would want to do a Shagun purchase rather than visit store with family to purchase jewellery. 

Ishu Datwani, Founder, Anmol said, “This is the second year in a row that we are missing on Akshaya Tritiya Sales, April is the beginning of the new financial year and we have begun the year with a lockdown. It’s a very slow start and the business is down by 95% as compared to normal years Akshaya Tritiya. Because of our experience of last year that had generated not much sales so we had expected that repetition would happen online so even this year not expected anything substantial.”