India ready to recycle golden nest egg?

India – An upsurge in the gold recycling business may help India to liquidate the significant volumes to be found in households and temples, reports Resource Investor. This development could push the nation’s jewellers to source domestically available gold instead of relying on imports.

According to recent World Gold Council (WGC) estimates, only 8-10% of India′s gold demand is met by recycled gold, far lower than the world average of 35-40%. ′Gold demand totalled 929 tonnes in the third quarter, which proved to be a generally subdued quarter for the gold market,′ the WGC adds.

Indian jewellery demand increased in the third quarter to the second highest level for that period at 182.9 tonnes. This 60% growth in the Indian jewellery sector is said to confirm ′a strong appetite for gold′.

Back in 1999, India introduced the Gold Deposit Scheme but this failed to bring in much scrap owing to the minimum initial deposit of 500 grams, making it unaffordable for most households. Some have called this a missed opportunity as Indian households and temples contain an estimated 25 000 tonnes of gold.

For more than a year, refining company MMTC-PAMP has been running a trial store in New Delhi which accepts scrap gold. It plans to commission its first formal gold recycling store in December and to open more of them during 2015. The company has set up its own facility in Gurgaon to refine the collected material.

For more information, visit: www.gold.org