Coimbatore gold smithies hit hard by sharp hike in prices

COIMBATORE: Gold smithies in Coimbatore, the hub of jewellery manufacturing in India, are losing glitter as escalating prices of gold has led to a sharp decline in sales.

“High prices of gold has caused sales to nosedive to a meager 10 to 15 per cent over the last one week. The downward trend began even before, when the sales reduced to just 50 per cent and it’s only going worse day by day. It has become a tough task to survive in the business,” said B Muthuvenkatram, president of Coimbatore Gold Jewellery Manufacturers Association.

More than 600 odd gold manufacturing units, which have brought pride to Coimbatore as the third leading manufacturer of gold jewels in India, are now in doldrums due to increasing prices of the yellow metal. Around 100 tonnes of gold jewels are manufactured in Coimbatore every year and sent to different parts of the country.

People are hesitating to buy gold jewels and are postponing their purchase plans, hoping for gold prices to reduce.

“Because of low sales, thousands of goldsmiths are left jobless and are staring at a bleak future. If the situation has to come back to normalcy, then the government should at least consider reducing the import duty temporarily to boost sales and bail out the sector from the crisis. Immediate intervention of the government is required to save both the industry and workers,” said P Venkatesh, who runs a gold manufacturing unit.

There are around 45,000 skilled workers, with a majority of 60 per cent from West Bengal and remaining from Tamil Nadu, dependent on the jewel manufacturing sector for their livelihood. Already, the downfall in the sector due to reasons like COVID-19 pandemic, economic recession and other factors has led to decline in the number of labourers from around one lakh over the last 10 years.

“Even though work orders have reduced, the workers are waiting desperately for the situation to become normal. However, if this situation persists then they may abandon the sector for alternative jobs,” said B Sabarinath, vice-president of Coimbatore Jewellery Manufacturers Association.

The export of gold jewels remains an untapped area due to lack of required infrastructure, including safe cargo transport and other features.

While Kolkata, Mumbai and Ahmedabad are major manufacturers of gold jewels, the jewels made in Coimbatore are mostly handmade and are preferred for their unique style and durability.