From festivals to investment, the yellow metal holds a special place in the heart of every Indian. But as Indians continue to purchase gold yearly, huge amounts of gold remain unused across the nation.PM Modi urged Indians to recycle gold that's locked in their cupboards. The reason behind this is pretty simple: use what India already has instead of purchasing from overseas. Indian temples and houses hold more than 32,000 tonnes of gold. That's worth 3.2 $ trillion. Even if a small portion of this gold comes into the economy, this would boost the formal economy.
But what is the real reason behind Gold Recycling? This is the process of collecting broken ornaments, industrial scrap, and bars, and even gold extracted from electronics, that converts back into pure gold through recycling.
Why Is Government Boosting Gold Recycling?
Currently, India's import bill has reached $72.4 billion because of high demand for gold. This has put pressure on India's current account deficit and trade balance. Head of Research at Swastika Investment, Meena says that gold recycling will reduce imports and narrow the current account deficit. This means that every gram of recycled gold is one less gram that needs to be imported.
What is changing now is the movement towards making this process more transparent. Santosh Meena said that record-high gold prices and transparent exchange programmes provided by jewellers have encouraged more consumers to consider gold recycling.
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