Is silver the new gold?

This Dhanteras, it’s not gold, but silver that’s high on Delhi’s buying list. And even the steady rise in its price isn’t stopping them. Namya Sinha tells more.

This Dhanteras, it’s not gold, but silver that’s high on Delhi’s buying list. And even the steady rise in its price isn’t
stopping them. Since January 2009, the price of silver has gone up by almost 60 per cent compared with 23 per cent rise in gold prices. But Dilliwallahs couldn’t care less.

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Says Rahul Gupta, MD P.P. Jewellers, “The introduction of innovative silver artifacts has made the metal popular. Silver Lakshmi and Ganesh are old favourites, but this year it’s silver currency notes that have caught up. A Rs 1,000 note in silver weighs around a kilogram and is becoming really popular.” Rajiv Arora of Amrapali Jewels says, “Sale of silver are definitely more than gold, even if that means gold-plaited silver. Even designers are choosing silver over gold.”

Kaamini Srivastava, a housewife, who buys a gold coin for Dhanteras every year, plans to buy a silver spoon this time. “At Rs 16,000, I can’t afford gold coins. We buy a precious metal today as shagun, so why not invest in silver?”