High Price!

Someone remarked a few years ago that the only advertisements on Malayalam TV channels were for umbrellas, wedding sarees and gold jewellery. Since then, a few other categories have been added, but gold seems to be ruling the roost even today. Tamil Nadu has several other advertisers, but even then, advertisements for gold jewellery are common enough to be noticed. For those with upward economic aspirations, gold is a significant measure of their having arrived - to the extent that McKinsey Global Institute titled their recent report on consumerism in India as 'The Bird of Gold', recalling a description used by traders in the first millenium CE.

Today, it looks like only those who are at the top of the pile can think gold once again; prices have touched a 10-year high and are expected to break the $1000 / ounce barrier soon. The grouchy investment scenario does not offer too many alternates to the metal and jewellers are probably having a good time.

This 10-storey showroom of Joy Alukkas in Chennai was inaugurated barely a year ago; touted as the largest exclusive gold jewellery showroom in Asia, it is symbolic of the firm's plans to become the leading gold jeweller in the world by the end of the decade!