Gold rally shifts jewellery demand from advance schemes to old-gold exchanges
Rising gold prices are weakening advance-purchase scheme collections at major jewellers while lifting exchange-led buying. Tanishq deposits fell 39% year-on-year to ₹2,116 crore in FY26, while old-gold exchange purchases rose by as much as 35%.
What happened
Tanishq (Titan) · Surging gold prices shifted Indian jewellery buyers from advance-purchase deposits to old-gold exchanges. Tanishq, Reliance Retail and Jos
Key facts
- Tanishq deposits fell 39% year-on-year to ₹2,116 crore in FY26
- Reliance Retail deposits fell 25% year-on-year to ₹250 crore
- Jos Alukkas deposits fell 25%; it operates 67 stores
- Gold-exchange purchases rose up to 35% year-on-year
- Jos Alukkas old-gold exchange sales contribution rose to 65% from about 45%
- Gold prices rose about 56% in FY26 after increasing about 20% in FY25
- Kalyan Jewellers recycled gold share increased to 46%
- Old-gold exchange accounts for nearly one-third of industry revenue
- DP Abhushan old-gold exchange contributes about 25-30% of business
Why this matters
Prioritize targets or partnerships in gold appraisal, recycling, refining, and exchange-enablement infrastructure as consumers increasingly fund jewellery purchases with old gold.
What to watch
- Monthly gold-price direction and volatility in India, especially whether prices remain near record levels through the wedding and festive seasons.
- Tanishq, Kalyan, Senco and Titan disclosures on old-gold exchange mix, gold-gram volume growth, making charges and same-store sales.
- Advance-scheme enrolments, deposit balances, redemption rates and customer acquisition costs.
- Difference between revenue growth and gold-gram volume growth, indicating whether demand is price-led rather than unit-led.
- Organised jewellers' market-share gains and the pace of new store openings versus independent-store closures.
- Consumer preference shifts toward lightweight jewellery, coins, digital gold or investment bars.
- Major chains will expand old-gold exchange promotions, doorstep collection, purity-testing infrastructure and instant valuation tools.
- Retailers will push lightweight, studded and making-charge-led designs to protect affordability and gross margin despite lower gold gram volumes.
- Jewellers will redesign advance schemes with shorter tenures, guaranteed benefits, price-protection options or exchange-linked rewards to rebuild deposits.
- Organised chains will use stronger exchange capabilities to take share from independent stores, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 wedding markets.
- Lower scheme inflows will make sales forecasting less visible and may increase reliance on working-capital facilities during festival and wedding inventory builds.