Indian consumers are showing an increasing interest in purchasing platinum jewellery at the current depressed prices, according to a new report published today (22nd January) by Dow Jones.

The country is the biggest gold market in the world but the gap between the yellow metal and platinum has shrunk considerably in the past year, with the latter losing around 25 per cent of its value.

As a result, jewellers have noted that consumers - particularly those between the ages of 25 and 35 - are beginning to purchase platinum items such as wedding and engagement rings in their droves.

Vijay Jain, Chief Executive of leading chain Orra, told the news provider: "The earlier perception of platinum as a premium metal has changed to an extremely aspirational one following the decline in prices.

"Daily platinum sales in our 30 stores have risen to around 25 per cent to 40 per cent of our total sales in January compared with ten per cent to 15 per cent in the previous months."

Jewellers have been increasing their stocks of platinum and Orra has capitalised on the demand by launching a new range of rings for couples, which has so far proved to be hugely popular.

Indeed, the surge in sales of platinum jewellery has bucked the overall slump in the industry as a whole, with the volatility of gold in 2008 having an impact on sentiment towards the metal.

"In certain markets such as Chennai, demand [for platinum jewellery] would be strong in the coming weeks because of the wedding season which falls during the October-March period," Vaishali Banerjee, Manager of the Indian arm of Platinum Guild International, told Dow Jones.

The current price of platinum in local Indian markets is around 1,600 rupees per gram, in comparison to gold's value of 1,361 rupees per gram.



Source:

= FOCUS:Platinum Gains Ground In India As Price Gap Narrows (22/01/09)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/-focusplatinum-gains-ground-india/story.aspx?guid=%7b444E7B97-82E2-4FA2-9790-27743C20D98A%7d&dist=msr_1