Mumbai: Indians cover their brides with gold, adorn their temples with it, and turn the precious metal into an insurance policy against inflation, and hedge it for the rainy day.
But if the World Gold Council figures are to be believed, the demand for gold in India fell 39% from a year earlier in the quarter ended June to 204.1 tons. Investment demand — buying of gold in the form of coins or bars rather than jewellery — plummeted even further, losing 67%.
“It’s not lucrative to invest in gold anymore,†said a wealth management consultant. With growing optimism about the economy, stocks and real estate offer better returns than gold recently, say analysts.
 India’s total gold demand in 2014 is expected to slide to as low as 850 tons, down from 975 tons last year. In 2013, Indians bought over 2.5 times more gold bars and coins than they did in 2009.
Government restrictions have also taken the shine off of gold as an investment. Last year, the government slapped higher taxes and trading restrictions on gold which depressed the sentiment.
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