India's gold demand dips marginally to 774 tonnes in 2022: WGC

MUMBAI: India's overall gold demand remained resilient and witnessed a marginal decline of 2.92 per cent in 2022 at 774 tonnes notwithstanding a sharp increase in prices, and the outlook for this year looks bullish, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report on Tuesday.

The overall gold demand in 2021 stood at 797.3 tonnes, according to WGC's annual 'Gold Demand Trends' report.

Despite a relatively subdued trade and weaker consumer sentiment at the beginning of the year, hike in duty and sharp rise in prices in the midst of the season, demand has indeed remained surprisingly resilient, WGC The World Gold Council Managing Director for India Somasundaram PR said.

The festivities at the beginning of the last quarter of 2022, also boosted investment demand, though, the attention shifted towards gold jewellery with the onset of the wedding season, he noted.

India gold demand in the fourth quarter and the full year 2022, fell short of 345 tonnes (a record level in our 30-year data series) and 797.3 tonnes, respectively for 2021, he said.

Total jewellery demand in India for 2022 was down by 2 per cent at 600.4 tonnes as compared to 610.9 tonnes in 2021 and in the value terms it was up by 4 per cent at Rs 272,810 crore as against Rs 261,150 crores in the previous year.

Similarly, the total investment demand during the year was down by 7 per cent at 173.6 tonnes in comparison to 186.5 tonnes in 2021, said the report.

In value terms, gold investment demand witnessed a decline of 1 per cent at Rs 78,860 crores from Rs 79,720 crores in 2021.

Total gold recycled in India in 2022 increased by 30 per cent at 97.6 tonnes as compared to 75.2 tonnes in 2021.

''Lifetime high domestic gold prices notwithstanding, gold jewellery demand was 600 tonnes, just 2 per cent lower than 2021,'' he added.

Meanwhile, demand for gold in the country during the fourth quarter of 2022 was down by 22 per cent at 276.1 tonnes, compared to 343.9 tonnes in the same period of 2021.

India's fourth quarter gold demand in value was down 15 per cent at Rs 125,910 crore in comparison to Rs 148,780 crore in the same period of previous year.

''The fourth quarter declines of 17 per cent y-o-y should be seen against an unprecedented high level of the previous year,'' he added.

He further stated that drop in gold investment demand was due to a 28 per cent y-o-y decline during the fourth quarter, although the demand was a healthy 56 tonnes, it failed to match the extremely strong performance of the corresponding period of 2021 of 79 tonnes.

Talking about imports, he said total gold imported in India in 2022 was 673.3 tonnes, as compared to 924.6 tonnes in 2021, down by 27 per cent.