The Bihar government has formed a state-level task force to monitor actions taken by authorities to prevent and eradicate child marriages in the state. Bihar has the second-highest rate of child marriage in India, with 40.8% of women getting married before turning 18. The government is implementing a multipronged strategy to combat child marriage, including stricter enforcement of the law, empowering girls through education, and raising awareness.
Amazon India has witnessed an 84 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in sales of hallmarked gold jewellery and posted a 5-fold spike in demand during the first two days of its ongoing Amazon Great Indian Festival (AGIF) sale event, which started on September 27. This demand is for brands such as Malabar Gold and Diamonds, PN Gadgil Jewellers, Joyalukkas, PC Chandra and KISNA, among others. According to current trends, customers buy fine jewellery starting at Rs 2,000 in the silver category and shell out up to Rs 40,000 for gold and diamond jewellery. In the last year, Amazon has seen more customers opt for 14 Karat purity.
Gold seems to be losing its glitter in India due to a rise in prices. Demand in Q2CY24 was 149.7 tonnes - a 5 per cent drop compared to 158.1 tonnes in the same period last year, according to a report by the World Gold Council (WGC). Demand by value in April-June 2024 stood at Rs 93,850 crore, up by 14 per cent compared to Rs 82,530 crore in the same period last year.
The biggest gold buying festivals are Akshaya Tritiya and Dhanteras.
A limited edition Sachin Tendulkar gold coins, with the senior cricketer's face and signature embossed on them, were launched in Mumbai on Monday on the auspicious day of 'Akshaya Tritiya'.
The government will review the weather conditions in the coming days and accordingly take a decision in the interest of the pilgrims, he said.
The administration in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone lifted the curfew with immediate effect on Wednesday evening, 24 days after it was imposed following violence during a Ram Navami procession on April 10, an official said.
Trend may slow down the growth in investment demand of the yellow metal in the short term.
Gold is back in favour with consumers shifting their focus on the precious metal on the back of moderation in prices.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers on the emerging Covid-19 situation in the country on Wednesday through video conferencing, an official said.
The drive begins just days ahead of the Char Dham Yatra in the state.
"All these festivals are festivals of restraint, purity, charity and harmony. Advance greetings to all of you on the occasion of these festivals. Celebrate these festivals with great gaiety and harmony," Modi said.
Indians love affair with gold will never end. Despite a lull, there is heavy demand in the market.
The gifted mogri even bears the caption 'sharabiyon ke sutara hetu bhent, police nahi bolegi' (gift for beating drunkards, police will not intervene).
With COVID protocols lifted, Bollywood is back to celebrating festivals the only way they know!
The move comes days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's directive for restricting the volume of loudspeakers at religious places in order to avoid trouble to people living nearby.
The process of opening the doors of Kedar Dham began at 3 am. Shiva Shankar Linga, the chief priest of the shrine, carried out the tradition of opening the doors. The first 'pooja' was performed in the name of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said a statement.
During the daily media briefing, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, said that 16 districts in the country, which earlier had cases, have not reported any fresh cases for the last 28 days.
"The nakli Shiv Sena wants to bury me alive. They abuse me in such a way that it will be liked by their favourite vote bank," Modi said.
The government has sold SGBs worth Rs 1,990 crore in April and May alone.
Govt has so far refused to bring down the import duty to 2% from the current 10%.
Stocks of gold jewellery retailers have been able to retain their sheen in 2023 despite volatile gold prices. Kalyan Jewellers, Titan, PC Jewellers, Thangamayil Jewellery, and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) have rallied 21-72 per cent so far since April as compared to a 13 per cent gain in the benchmark Sensex index. The rally gained steam on the back of gold's 6 per cen
With Eid festival and Akshaya Tritiya likely to fall on the same day next month and many other festivals lined up in the coming days, Adityanath said the police needs to be extra cautious.
The demand for gold is expected to take a hit if the price of the yellow metal - which has been hovering around Rs 60,000, a level never seen before - remains elevated. Due to a sharp increase in price in a very short time and the flow of smuggled gold continuing, gold price in Mumbai is quoted at around Rs 59,000 per 10 gram. Typically, overall demand in the January-March and July-September quarters is moderate-to-dull, which is the case in the ongoing period.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday cancelled the leaves of all police and administrative officials in the state till May 4 and asked all those on leave to report within 24 hours.
Gold is usually seen as a safe-haven when stocks are falling or when inflation is rising. With prices of the yellow metal hovering near record highs, people are also putting off their jewellery purchases. Along with a subdued marriage season, the orders with price open and settled on delivery day, too, are getting cancelled. Apart from high, volatile prices, there is no gold rush yet for the safe-haven asset, crimping demand.
The month of March could be worst in many years, with imports estimated only around 18 tonnes amid the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, said an industry player. The import in March 2019 was 72.5 tonnes, according to the GFMS data.
March was the worst month for gold imports because of a strike by jewellers over the imposition of an excise duty.
Gold jewellery demand in India is likely to decline in the second and third quarters of this fiscal due to hike in import duty, high volatility in prices and inflationary pressure, according to a report. While demand is likely to contract by 8 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of FY23, the decline is expected to be higher at 15 per cent in the third quarter due to the exceptionally high base in the same period of FY22, Icra said in a report. According to the report, the exceptional third quarter performance in FY22 was due to the post-Covid reopening of the economy and the substantially high demand in the wedding and festive seasons.
Exports rise for 8th month, albeit at lower pace
In August 2013, import duties on gold, silver and platinum were hiked to 10 per cent in order to curb the surging imports and also to check CAD.
After demonetisation, demand jumped as many people with unaccounted money bought the yellow metal.
India's gold demand recovered during the January-March period to witness a growth of 37 per cent at 140 tonne compared to the same quarter of 2020, due to ease of COVID-related restrictions, pent up demand and softening of prices of the yellow metal, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). The overall gold demand stood at 102 tonne during the first quarter of 2020, as per WGC data. Gold demand in value terms increased by 57 per cent during the first quarter of this calendar year to Rs 58,800 crore compared to Rs 37,580 crore in the corresponding period of 2020.
Gold demand will go up in the second half of this year.
India's gold demand increased by 19.2 per cent to 76.1 tonne during the April-June quarter this year, largely due to low base effect, owing to the nationwide lockdown that hit economic activity last year, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report. The overall gold demand during the second quarter of 2020 calendar year stood at 63.8 tonnes, according to the WGC's 'Gold Demand Trends Q2 2021' report. In value terms, India's gold demand witnessed 23 per cent growth during April-June quarter at Rs 32,810 crore, compared to Rs 26,600 crore during the corresponding period of 2020.
Siddharth Varadarajan, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, announced his resignation from the newspaper on Twitter on Friday, two years after he took over the reins from N Ram as the first professional editor of The Hindu.
Concern would kick in if imports stay at or over 100 tonnes a month.
Despite various challenges, the past year was a good one, says Bruce Cleaver, chief executive officer of the De Beers Group, the global corporation that has been the leading one in all aspects of the diamond trade for over a century.
Addressing his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' programme, he also said that India's fight against the novel coronavirus has become people-driven wherein every citizen is playing his or her part.
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