National News
WGC India gold market update: Investment appetite upheld
Highlights
- Gold’s price momentum remains strong, breaching records, with domestic gold prices gaining 13% y-t-d
- Price rises dampen jewellery purchases but boost old gold sales; investment demand is sustained: gold ETFs see healthy inflows in February, although below January’s peak
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gold holdings remains unchanged in February
- Gold imports drop to an 11-month low in February.
Looking ahead
- Expectation is growing that seasonal factors (auspicious days and festivals) and wedding related purchases could lend support to gold demand over the next couple of months. This may not, however, fully compensate for the price-driven constraints in jewellery demand.
Gold’s unprecedented momentum
Gold’s momentum has been exceptionally strong in 2025. So far this year prices have hit 13 new highs1 and have crossed the psychological threshold of US$3,000/oz.2 This performance, which has been replicated across major currencies, is driven by economic trends and sustained investment demand. Geopolitical and economic uncertainty, a weaker USD, lowering of interest rates across economies, and inflation concerns are fuelling investment demand and influencing prices.
So far in 2025,3 the LBMA gold price AM in USD has risen by US$330/oz or 12%, to US$2,999/oz, with over 4% of that increase taking place in the first half of March. The Indian domestic landed price4 has risen in tandem, gaining 17% to reach a record INR88,946/10g. The larger gains can be attributed to weakness in the INR against the USD (1.3% depreciation y-t-d). However, given the weakness in demand – particularly in jewellery – the domestic gold price remains at a discount relative to the landed price. The discount, or spread, between local and landed prices averaged US$12/oz in the first half of March, slightly narrower than the US$17/oz spread observed in February.
Gold remains India’s top performing asset, with y-t-d gains of 13%,5 in sharp contrast with the negative return from domestic equities and notably surpassing gains in fixed income assets (bonds and bank deposits). This underscores the strategic significance of gold in investor portfolios.
Gold ETFs maintain momentum
Indian gold ETFs continued their inflow in February. While lower than January’s record high, they remained healthy, driven by broadening investor interest amid global economic and market uncertainty and the positive momentum in the gold price.
According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), gold ETFs recorded net inflows of INR19.8bn(~US$227mn) in February,6 marking the tenth consecutive month of positive flows. Although lower than January’s peak,7 this surpassed the average net inflow figure (INR14.8bn/US$175mn) recorded over the preceding nine months. February also witnessed significant redemptions, totalling INR7.8bn/US$89.7mn – the highest since April 2024. This may be attributed to profit taking as gold prices surged.
Despite these redemptions, investor participation remained strong with 0.3mn investor accounts (or folios) added during the month, bringing the total number of gold ETF investor accounts to a record 6.8mn, reflecting a growing investor interest in this instrument. Cumulative assets under management (AUM) of gold ETFs grew to INR55.7bn(~US$6.4bn), up 7% m/m and 95% y/y. Overall holdings increased by 2.2t, taking collective holdings to 64.6t. These figures are in line with our initial estimates based on information available at the time.8 Rising investor interest has encouraged fund houses to introduce new gold ETF products, two of which were launched in February, bringing the total number of domestic gold ETFs to 20. At the end of February gold ETFs accounted for 0.9% of total AUM of mutual funds, up from 0.5% a year ago – an indication of the growing traction among investors.
RBI gold reserves stable, share of gold in forex reserves rising
The RBI held off buying gold in February, marking its second pause in three months, according to our estimates based on the bank’s weekly reporting of forex reserves. However, the bank has been increasing its gold holdings consistently since the beginning of 2024, purchasing an average of 6.3t in 12 of the last 14 months. While its gold reserves remained steady at 879t in February, the share of gold in total forex reserves rose to 11.5%,9 the highest on record and almost 4% higher than a year ago. This highlights the RBI’s continued diversification of its forex reserves.
Gold imports decline further
February gold imports fell to their lowest level since March 2024, marking the third consecutive month of decline and a steep drop from November’s highs. This trend reflects the weak demand environment amid high prices. According to Ministry of Commerce data10 the gold import bill for February totalled $2.3bn – a 14% m/m and 63% y/y decline. We estimate that import volume in February ranged between 25t and 30t.
National News
Senco Gold & Diamonds Partners With Olocker to Give Customers Free Jewellery Insurance, Letting Precious Memories Be Worn, Not Hidden Away
A Customer-First Initiative Designed to Help People Wear Their Precious Memories with Confidence.
Senco Gold & Diamonds, one of India’s most trusted jewellery houses, has partnered with Olocker, India’s first dedicated jewellery insurance platform, to offer free jewellery insurance to its customers, protecting purchases against risks such as snatching, robbery, and housebreaking.
On the surface, it’s a simple value-add: buy jewellery from Senco, get it insured, at no extra cost. But the thinking behind it is more personal — the freedom to actually live with the things you love.
There is a quiet ritual that plays out in homes across India every wedding season, every anniversary. A piece of jewellery is bought with love, worn once or twice with pride — and then, almost apologetically, tucked away in a bank locker for “safekeeping.” The very thing meant to be cherished ends up spending most of its life in the dark.
A Locker Is No Place for a Memory
Ask any family that owns fine jewellery, and you’ll hear the same quiet anxiety: the fear of stepping out wearing something precious, the fear of a break-in while the house is empty. For many, the solution has always been the same — lock it away, take it out only for weddings and festivals, and let it sit untouched the rest of the year.
It’s a practical response to a real risk, but it also means jewellery bought to mark a marriage or a milestone ends up being seen far less than it deserves.
This is the exact problem Senco Gold & Diamonds’ Managing Director, Suvankar Sen,
has spoken about wanting to solve. Known for a customer-first philosophy that goes beyond transactions, Sen has often said jewellery should be something people live with, not something they merely own. “Jewellery is never just metal and stone,” Sen said, explaining the thinking behind the Olocker partnership. “It’s a wedding day, a mother’s blessing, a promise kept. When customers can’t step out wearing it, or can’t leave home without worrying about a break-in, something is broken in that experience. We wanted to fix that.”
That sentiment is the quiet engine behind this initiative. Rather than simply selling jewellery and stepping back, Senco has chosen to walk the extra mile — ensuring that once a customer takes a piece home, they can wear it freely and pass it down through generations, without the constant undercurrent of worry.
What the Partnership Actually Offers
Through this collaboration, Senco customers receive free jewellery insurance via Olocker on qualifying purchases, protecting against snatching, robbery, and housebreaking.
Olocker, India’s first digital platform dedicated to jewellery insurance and asset tracking, brings the technical and insurance backbone — while Senco brings its decades of trust, built since 1938, to make sure customers actually use it.
For a family that has just bought a piece for a wedding, this means peace of mind — wearing that necklace to a dinner without the nagging thought of “what if someone snatches it,” or “what if someone breaks in while we’re away.”
A Partnership Built on Shared Intent
The excitement isn’t one-sided. At Olocker, the partnership is seen as validation of the idea the platform was built on — that jewellery insurance should be a natural, everyday companion to ownership, not a niche afterthought.
“This is genuinely one of the most exciting collaborations we’ve been part of,” said Milind Shethia, Founder & Chief Marketing Officer at Olocker. “Our mission has been to help people wear their jewellery instead of locking it away, and partnering with a name as trusted as Senco brings that mission to millions of customers at once.
What’s heartening is Mr. Sen’s own approach — he didn’t look at it as a marketing tie-up, but as giving something back to people who’ve trusted Senco for generations. That kind of intent is rare, and it’s exactly the spirit we built Olocker around.”
That mutual sense of purpose is what gives this partnership its quiet credibility. It isn’t a scheme or a promotional hook, but two organisations agreeing on a simple, shared belief: jewellery should be lived in, not locked up.
A Bigger Idea About Ownership
There is a broader philosophy at play, one Suvankar Sen has championed throughout his tenure at Senco — that jewellery is an emotional asset as much as a financial one, and customers shouldn’t have to choose between enjoying it and protecting it.
This partnership feels less like a marketing initiative and more like a promise kept, reflecting a leadership style that measures success in something harder to quantify — how cared for a customer feels long after leaving the showroom.
As jewellery increasingly doubles as adornment and investment, initiatives like this one may well set a new benchmark for customer care in the industry.
Senco, through its partnership with Olocker, isn’t just insuring jewellery against snatching or a break-in — it’s giving people back the freedom to wear their memories, out loud, without fear.
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