Domestic Issues Curtailed Bullion Demand in India
Physical demand in India has been weak for a couple of years now due to import restrictions, taxation, and currency changes. While we wait for favorable developments from India, the positive trend in prices has been driven by investment demand for gold bullion exchange traded products (ETPs). According to the WGC (World Gold Council), though gold (SGOL) demand in India increased 9% in 2017 to 727 tons, it was much less than the average five-year demand of 810 tons.