India’s gold demand went up by 43 per cent during April-June quarter, but going ahead factors like inflation, Rupee-USD rates and policy measures among others are likely to influence consumer sentiments, says a report.
According to a World Gold Council (WGC) report, India’s April-June quarter gold demand stood at 170.7 tonnes, higher from 119.6 tonnes during the corresponding quarter in 2021.

In terms of value, India’s gold demand increased by 54 per cent during the second quarter to Rs 79,270 crore, compared to Rs 51,540 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2021, the WGC Gold Demand Trends Q2 2022 report said on Thursday.

“Akshaya Tritiya coupled with traditional wedding buying spurred jewellery demand by 49 per cent to 140.3 tonne, though on a low base, as the second quarter of last year was impacted by a devastating second wave of COVID,” WGC Regional CEO, India, Somasundaram PR told  to media.

Going forward, he said, for the full 2022 WGC has kept the demand outlook at 800-850 tonnes, but at the lower end of the range as factors like inflation, gold price, Rupee-USD rates and policy measures among others influence consumer sentiments.

The total demand in 2021 was 797 tonnes, he said.

“The second half of this year jewellery demand in India faces downside risks, due to uncertainty over the economic outlook, a higher import duty and the possibility of additional curbs on gold buying, even if for temporary and tactical reasons with an eye on Indian Rupee and USD exchange rate,” he noted.

Upside potential for demand can come from expectations of a normal monsoon, higher inflation and the possibility for range-bound prices, he added.

The gold prices increased from Rs 43,994 per 10 grams on March 31, as against Rs 46,504 per 10 grams on June 30, he said.

Total jewellery demand for April-June 2022 was up by 49 per cent at 140.3 tonne compared to 94 tonne in the same quarter of 2021. The value of jewellery demand jumped 60 per cent to Rs 65,140 crores during the quarter under review, from Rs 40,610 crore a year ago.

While the total investment demand during the second quarter increased by 20 per cent at 30.4 tonnes, in terms of value it was up by 29 per cent at Rs 14,140 crores compared to Rs 10,930 crore in the same period last year.

Total gold recycled in India in Q2 2022 increased 18 per cent to 23.3 tonnes, compared to 19.7 tonnes in the same period last year.

The quarter also witnessed 34 per cent growth in imports at 170 tonnes, compared to 131.6 tonnes in the same period in 2021.
Somasundaram said, even as demand makes a recovery towards near-normal, the Indian bullion market is altering with some fundamental structural reforms such as mandatory hallmarking and exchange trading.

“The proposed launch of the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) will kick-start a journey to make India a trusted and efficient trading hub and extend its influence in the global bullion markets,” he said.

An efficient price discovery for bullion, responsible and sustainable sourcing, world class trading and vaulting infrastructure at GIFT City and an agile regulatory framework with International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), IIBX is bound to emerge as a credible global entity in the bullion industry, he said.

“As the importance of bullion rises in an uncertain world, a trusted ecosystem underpinned by IIBX will offer a global advantage to investors in gold. India’s efforts to monetise gold will also derive tremendous support from a transparent bullion trading system in GIFT City,” Somasundaram added.

Bilateral Trade between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grew from US$ 87.35 billion in FY 2020-21 to US$ 154.66 billion in FY 2021-22, registering an increase of 77.06% on a year-on-year basis. Since FY 2017-18, on a compounded annual growth rate basis, bilateral trade between India and the GCC has grown by 10.57%.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha .

In the wake of the two consecutive recoveries of massive amounts of cash and gold from two of her residences in Kolkata’s Tollygunge and Belgharia, Arpita Mukherjee on Thursday confessed to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that she was forced by West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee to allow her houses to be used to store the illegal cash.

According to ED sources, Mukherjee also admitted that the cash recovered from her residences was parked there by Chatterjee with the help of one of his close associates unknown to her.

“She has confessed that Chatterjee used to come to both her Tollygunge and Belgharia residences once or even twice a week, and during his visits, he was accompanied by a person unknown to her. Mukherjee has also confessed that she did not even have access to the keys of the cupboards from where the cash recoveries were made. There were strict instructions from Chatterjee not to fiddle with the cupboards and also avoid frequenting the rooms where these cupboards were, ” an ED official confirmed.

It is learnt that whenever Chatterjee visited Mukherjee’s residences, the Minister had closed-door meetings with the unknown person which she was not allowed to participate in.

“While making these confessions, Mukherjee into tears a number of times and was constantly claiming that she was exploited. Now we have to get access to that unknown person referred by her. It is only Partha Chatterjee who can answer this, ” said an ED official.

Average housing price rose up to 15 % during April-June across 9 major cities, with Chennai witnessing the highest appreciation of 15 per cent, according to data analytic firm PropEquity.

The weighted average price rose by 15 % in Chennai to Rs 6,744 per square feet in the June quarter from Rs 5,855 per square feet in the year-ago period.

Gurugram witnessed 12 per cent increase in prices to Rs 11,517 per square feet from Rs 10,315 per square feet, and Hyderabad too saw 12 per cent rise to Rs 6,472 per square feet from Rs 5,764 per square feet.

The average prices in Noida rose 9 per cent to Rs 7,411 per square feet from Rs 6,791 per square feet. In Bengaluru, the prices were up 8 per cent to Rs 6,196 per square feet from Rs 5,760 per square feet.

Housing prices in Mumbai, Thane and Pune increased by 3 per cent.

In Mumbai, the prices of residential properties rose to Rs 18,896 per square feet from Rs 18,259 per square feet, while in Thane, the rates appreciated to Rs 6,325 per square feet from Rs 6,165 per square feet.

Housing prices in Pune too increased to Rs 5,348 per square feet from Rs 5,189 per square feet.

Kolkata witnessed the minimum increase of 1 per cent in the average housing prices to Rs 5,431 per square feet in April-June 2022 from Rs 5,355 per square feet in the same period last year.

“Residential market has been witnessing steady growth in sales and price appreciations over the last one year,” Samir Jasuja, Founder and MD of PropEquity, said.

As per the data, the housing sales rose 96 per cent year-on-year to 93,153 units during the June quarter this year. Sales, however, dropped 7 per cent to from the previous quarter.

Total units launched across the top 9 cities rose 51 per cent annually to 69,813 units during the April-June period, but fell 24 per cent from the previous quarter.

The unsold housing inventory dropped 11 per cent annually to 4,05,586 units in the June quarter. The fall was 5 per cent from the previous quarter.

Mumbai-based realty firm Kalpataru Ltd, which is developing many projects in Mumbai and Thane, Director-Sales Mukesh Singh attributed the rise in housing sales and prices in Thane to a higher demand.

“Over the past decade, Thane has transformed into a bustling metropolis. The city is in the midst of infrastructure and connectivity transformation which is expected to appreciate property prices and rentals,” he said.

As per the PropEquity data, housing sales in Thane more than doubled to 22,966 units during the June quarter from 10,878 units in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Housing sales in Pune doubled to 21,927 units from 10,829 units, while sales in Mumbai rose 98 per cent to 11,733 units from 5,929 units.

Hyderabad saw 77 per cent increase to 14,457 units from 8,176 units. Bengaluru witnessed 119 per cent increase to 13,324 units from 6,088 units. The sales of apartments in Chennai rose 45 per cent to 3,453 units from 2,374 units. Kolkata saw 56 per cent growth in sales to 3,103 units from 1,988 units.

In Delhi-NCR, Gurugram witnessed 57 per cent rise to 1,205 units from 769 units, while Noida saw 87 per cent growth to 1,010 units in the April-June period from 539 units last year, the data showed.

A suspected case of monkeypox has been reported in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, adjoining Delhi, health department officials said on Wednesday.

According to them, the patient is a 47-year-old woman who approached the health department on Tuesday, after which her samples were taken.

“The samples have been sent for a test to Lucknow, and the patient is in home isolation at the moment. Monkeypox can be confirmed only after the test results are out,” a local health official said.

The travel history of the patient was yet to be confirmed.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.

Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting two to four weeks. It typically presents itself with fever, headache, rashes, sore throat, cough and swollen lymph nodes. India has so far recorded four cases of monkeypox, three in Kerala and one in Delhi.

Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 1.64 lakh crore package for the revival of state-owned telecom firm BSNL, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

The revival measures approved by the Cabinet focus on fresh capital for upgrading services, allocating spectrum, de-stressing its balance sheet and augmenting its fiber network by merging Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd (BBNL) with BSNL.

Briefing reporters on the decision taken by the Union Cabinet, he said the package has a cash component of Rs 43,964 crore and a non-cash component of Rs 1.2 lakh crore spread over four years.

The government will make administrative allocation of spectrum BSNL needs to offer 4G services. The allocation of spectrum in 900/1800 MHz band at the cost of Rs 44,993 crore would be through equity infusion.

He said to meet the projected capital expenditure for next four years, the government will fund capex of Rs 22,471 crore for developing 4G technology stack.

Also, the government will provide Rs 13,789 crore to BSNL as viability-gap funding for commercially unviable rural wireline operations done during 2014-15 to 2019-20.

To de-stress the balance sheet, Rs 33,404 crore statutory dues will be converted into equity.

Besides, the government will provide sovereign guarantee for raising money to repay current loans, he said.

To facilitate wider utilization of infrastructure laid under BharatNet, BBNL will be merged with BSNL, he said.

The infrastructure created under BharatNet will continue to be a national asset, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to all the Telecom Service Providers.

The Minister said the Union Cabinet also approved a project for saturation of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country at a total cost of Rs 26,316 crore.

The project will provide 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas, he said.

Nearly 12,000 posts are lying vacant in the Delhi Police, Lok Sabha was informed .

The reply from Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai came in response to a question by Delhi BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma.

Rai said as reported by the Delhi Police, as on July 15, the sanctioned strength of the is 94,255 posts in which 82,264 posts were filled.

He said there are 11,991 vacant posts in Delhi Police as on July 15.

The minister said the Delhi Police has reported that a number of welfare measures are undertaken for its personnel and their family members.

These include loan for marriage for self and daughters, financial assistance for cremation of the deceased personnel, education loan for higher studies and others, he said replying to a written question.

Senior advocate Anmol Rattan Sidhu on Tuesday said he has resigned from the post of Punjab’s advocate general due to personal reasons.

Sidhu said he tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on July 19.

Senior advocate Vinod Ghai’s name is doing the rounds for the new advocate general’s post.

In his brief resignation letter to the chief minister, Sidhu wrote, “I am really thankful to the party for giving me a chance to represent the office of the Advocate General, Punjab. Due to personal reasons, I will not be able to serve this prestigious office, therefore, I hereby tender my resignation, which may kindly be accepted at the earliest.”

Sidhu was appointed as the advocate general in March. The post had fallen vacant following Deepinder Singh Patwalia’s resignation after the Punjab Assembly poll results were declared.

The death toll due to the consumption of spurious liquor in Gujarat’s Botad district has gone up to 21, officials said on Tuesday.

The police control room in Botad confirmed that 16 people from the district have died so far. Five people from Dhandhuka taluka of neighbouring Ahmedabad district have also died during treatment since Monday.

Around 30 people are still undergoing treatment at various government hospitals in Bhavnagar, Botad, Barvala and Dhandhuka, officials said.

Gujarat Director General of Police Ashish Bhatia earlier said the police have detained three persons from Botad district who were allegedly involved in manufacturing and selling the spurious country-made liquor.

The matter came to light early Monday morning when some people living in Rojid village of Barvala taluka and other surrounding villages were referred to government hospitals in Barvala and Botad towns after their condition started deteriorating.

Inspector General of Police (Bhavnagar range) Ashok Kumar Yadav had said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under a deputy superintendent of police-rank officer will be formed for a probe into the incident and to nab bootleggers who sold the spurious liquor.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the Ahmedabad crime branch have also joined the investigation.