Earlier in May, the World Gold Council (WGC) had projected the overall gold demand in the country to be in the range of 850-950 tonnes for this year against the actual demand of 864 tonnes in 2015. "There has been a significant rise in gold prices impacting the demand in the first half of the year. "High gold prices and a regulatory push for transparency through PAN cards, tax collection at source and excise duty on jewellery, coupled with weaker rural incomes kept demand subdued during the first half of the year," he said. "The pick up in demand would depend on how prices behave in the coming months and how new regulations are adopted by the trade and consumers even though there is a positive sentiment of good monsoons boosting the demand for gold." In the second half of 2016, he said the demand was expected to be in the range of 500-600 tonnes against 513 tonnes a year ago.

Source: The Telegraph August 11, 2016 19:26 UTC