Demand for gold appears to be growing faster in tier-2 towns compared to tier-1 centres, going by searches for gold retailers ahead of the Dhanteras festival, which is marked by purchases of the yellow metal.

According to search data released by JustDial, demand growth for gold in tier-2 towns was 24%, marginally ahead of tier-I cities at 22%. Among tier-1 cities, Ahmedabad (43%) saw the fastest growth rate followed by Chennai (34%) and Hyderabad (32%).

Cities like Pune (28%), Bangalore (24%), Mumbai (20%), Delhi (14%) and Kolkata (2%) made the rest of the top eight tier-1 cities.

Among tier-2 towns, Rajkot (74%) topped the list, followed by Lucknow (43%), Surat (also 43%) and Thrissur (40%). According to JustDial CMO Prasun Kumar, having reached a record price in August 2020, gold prices have corrected since then and the festivities have resulted in its increasing demand. Also, add to this India’s burgeoning stock market, as buyers tend to invest their returns from equities in gold.

Gold jewellery saw a 20% year-on-year (YoY) rise in demand, while for bars it was 9%. Among jewellery, the maximum preference was for nose rings that saw a YoY demand rise of 71%, followed by gold chains (57%), and necklaces (41%).

For silver, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bangalore were the top three with maximum demand among tier-1 cities, followed by Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune. Among tier-2 cities, demand remained high in Jaipur, Vijayawada and Coimbatore.