Lucknow: Jewellery market is witnessing a surge of customers following drop in bullion prices. Jewellers said customers, mostly wedding shoppers and families, are buying in advance amid fear that prices may rise again.Notched at around Rs 1.85 lakh per 10gm till Mar 15, price per 10 gms of gold has now dropped to Rs 1.49 lakh while silver price has fallen from Rs 3 lakh per kg to Rs 2.37 lakh a kilogram. Bullion prices have been rising steadily in the last one year. Chowk sarafa association president Adesh Jain said, “Daily sales volumes have nearly tripled since the price drop.”Until Mar 14, when gold prices were high, average daily business was of around Rs 4-5 crore, which, after the dip, has jumped to Rs 14-15 crore per day, he said.Sales volume has increased too. Earlier, daily gold sales were about 2-3kg, which now has increased to around 7kg, he added. The buying rush is driven not only by demand in wake of the upcoming wedding season, but also by customers planning for ceremonies later in the year.Sukesh Anand, a teacher shopping in Chowk market for his daughter’s wedding scheduled in Dec, said he decided to buy now as prices could rise again. He bought a 15gm gold set and 8gm gold bangles.Another customer, Sandhya Agarwal, said drop in prices finally gave her opportunity to buy jewellery after months of waiting. She purchased a 14gm gold set and a 20gm gold bracelet.Chowk sarafa association general secretary Vinod Maheshwari said many buyers fear prices will rise again in the coming months due to global uncertainties. “This has encouraged people to buy gold and silver at current rates,” he said.
