Can Modi Halt India’s Gold Rush?
5/14/202625 min
When a Prime Minister asks a billion people to stop buying gold, something has already broken. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury sits down with Suvankar Sen, MD and CEO of Senco Gold, Atmadip Ray, Senior Editor at The Economic Times, and Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist at Bank of Baroda — on what actually happened to consumer demand the moment Modi spoke, why India's ₹16 lakh crore gold loan market is now under RBI's scanner, and whether a rupee at 95, a crude bill of $123 billion and a $38 billion drop in forex reserves adds up to a crisis — or careful management. The numbers are stark. The question is whether the policy response is early enough.
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First 90 secondsNarendra Modi· Soundbite0:00
[intro jingle] [clacking] [beep] [dinging] [clicking] Saathiyon, gold, yani sone ki kharid ek aur pehlu hai jis main videshi mudra bahut adhik kharch hoti hai. Lekin desh hit main humko yeh tay karna padega ki saal bhar tak ghar main koi bhi function ho, koi bhi karyakram ho, hum sone ke gehne nahi kharidenge, sona nahi kharidenge.
Anirban Chaudhuri· Host0:36
That was PM Modi in Hyderabad asking Indians for the first time in living memory to stop buying gold for a year. And the government has now followed words with action. India has sharply raised gold import duty from six percent to 15% as policymakers battle a dangerous macro cocktail, soaring crude prices, a weakening rupee, widening current account pressures, and geopolitical instability triggered by the Iran conflict. Gold imports alone touched nearly $72 billion last year, almost 10% of India's total import bill. So in this episode, we look at three broad questions. What has actually been happening on ground with consumer demand for gold? Of course, and gold isn't just jewelry,