60 Minutes on gold in India...

mariner67 · February 12, 2012 11:38AM

Basically Gold is a cultural necessity in India and they are buying more and more and as the 2nd most populated country will continue to drive its price up.
They believe it is an unshakable need and after seeing tonight's episode of 60 Minutes I definitely will add to the stack this week!
Try to watch it "On Demand" if possible. Good show.

NumbersUsacom · February 12, 2012 1:59PM

Thanks for the info

RGJohn · February 12, 2012 4:23PM

Hmmm, I wonder. India has a weak rupee and a newly higher tax on silver and gold imports that has lowered sales.
China has a strong currency. So strong Uncle Sam keeps bellyaching about it. He never does that to the Indians.
People's Bank of China has recommended that Chinese people buy gold. China is both the world's largest gold producer as well as the world's largest importer having beaten India in that regard last year. Chinese economy is larger and stronger than India's and its rate of growth is much larger.
I don't mean to disparage the influence that India has on the worldwide gold market. Clearly it is indeed large.
I do think that the Chinese influence is greater. And will become greater and greater yet.
Your conclusion to continue stacking remains the sensible one.

trozau · February 12, 2012 7:52PM

Good viewing...

India's Love for Gold

cohodk · February 12, 2012 11:48PM

2nd most populated country will continue to drive its price up

The best cure for high prices is high prices. With a median income of less than $10,000 per year, gold will and is quickly becoming too expensive to Indians.

How much gold will YOU buy when it costs 1.5x your monthly wage to buy an ounce?

gsa1fan · February 12, 2012 11:56PM

<< 2nd most populated country will continue to drive its price up

The best cure for high prices is high prices. With a median income of less than $10,000 per year, gold will and is quickly becoming too expensive to Indians.

How much gold will YOU buy when it costs 1.5x your monthly wage to buy an ounce? >>

They have Lay-A-Way programs!

Watch the video tape

TheBigB · February 12, 2012 11:56PM

<< With a median income of less than $10,000 per year, gold will and is quickly becoming too expensive to Indians. >>

You may be right, but people have been saying that for years.

mhammerman · February 13, 2012 12:20AM

I watched that segment last night and thought it was a very well done piece. The take away from that part of the show was that Indians don't really care about the CME or what American's think or anything else, they are hard wired to buy gold as investment and savings and jewelry and they will continue to do so. Since they account for 30+% of gold sales and they are the I in BRIC as in emerging wealth, I would let the pundits continue selling their rags, India is going to buy a lot of gold. When the interviewer asked the interviewee what would happen if the price of gold went down, she replied that they would be able to buy more.

mariner67 · February 13, 2012 12:47AM

"they are hard wired to buy gold as investment and savings and jewelry and they will continue to do so"

They basically feel gold is part of their personal and familial history and an ingrained external show of their personal class status.
Indians start buying gold for their daughters while they are still very young so they will have gold to wear when they get married and women are expected to have gold in order to even be considered a potential worthy bride(not PC I know).
The main point I got from this is that buying and owning gold is so hardwired into their culture and self identity that India will continue to be a major driving force in the purchasing of gold. (I know China will also).
They also hold on to it and pass it down from generation to generation.
Only in the bleakest of circumstances, and only as a very last resort would they ever consider selling it which most almost never do!

Edited for spelling.

Baley · February 13, 2012 12:49AM

did the alien spaceships that visited the India area and had battles in the sky between 3 and 7 thousand years ago, left the people with deep and strongly held beliefs about gold ownership and other things such as a mystical religious philosophy? when someone descends from the sky on a pillar of fire with a great roar and shaking earth, folks tend to listen..

"hey, natives, here's a great idea: build megalithic structures out of stone, and fill them with pieces of this certain metal; We'll Be Back!"

TheBigB · February 13, 2012 1:00AM

<< "hey, natives, here's a great idea: build megalithic structures out of stone, and fill them with pieces of this certain metal; We'll Be Back!"

>>

Those silly natives, their system has only worked for thousands of years. Maybe it's time to send them a credit card offer in the mail.

gsa1fan · February 13, 2012 2:10AM

<< 

<< "hey, natives, here's a great idea: build megalithic structures out of stone, and fill them with pieces of this certain metal; We'll Be Back!"

>>

Those silly natives, their system has only worked for thousands of years. Maybe it's time to send them a credit card offer in the mail. >>

They showed grams of gold packaged in credit card type holders

ModernCoin · February 13, 2012 2:48AM

It's interesting that they didn't dare address the darkside of gold's recent run and that is the tremendous spike in female infanticide in India in the poorer provinces (though it's always been a severe problem). In a nutshell, lower class families can't afford to have females so they are selectively aborted or killed close to birth (many females are killed in wealthier families as well)

. A second girl born into a family is often referred to as a "burial girl" since that's her likely fate. Obviously there's no way to create a direct link to the price of gold and the tragedy itself, but make no mistake many fetuses/girls are aborted or murdered because of gold.

Sorry for such a negative post guys... :

mrearlygold · February 13, 2012 3:09AM

I like the avitar Mariner

mariner67 · February 13, 2012 3:37AM

Appreciated, thanks!

Timbuk3 · February 13, 2012 3:52AM

Sorry, I missed it !!!

MilesWaits · February 13, 2012 3:56AM

Thanks for the link Trozau!

How many of you are following India's lead and keeping yours till death do you part or passing your GLD down a generation?

Miles

57loaded · February 13, 2012 4:04AM

i couldn't find the remote, but the Grammy's were up next.

nothing new(s) on 60 minutes

one gram at a time!..that suprised me, though.

ModernCoin · February 13, 2012 4:19AM

<< How many of you are following India's lead and keeping yours till death do you part or passing your GLD down a generation? >>

While that's the plan, I'll be honest and admit that I would cash in IF I had a legitimate reason to. (And I don't mean to purchase a new car, take a dream vacation, or anything like that...) Namely, the chance to buy or start a business or to purchase a dream piece of real estate on the cheap. In either scenario I would break out the scuba gear and pull everything out of the retention pond across the street and sell whatever had to be sold.

While it's important to have some sort of security to pass to the next generation, I think it's clearly more important to take care of your family while you're hear and if it's best to sell it all than so be it.

Baley · February 13, 2012 6:34AM

Is it true? that all scientific and technological process on earth, and all advancement of the human condition, is a result of this ancient formula for success:
Get some gold
Put gold in box
Lock box
Hide box
Die

derryb · February 13, 2012 6:40AM

Doesn't matter if you keep your dollars in a jar or in a bank, they will be worth less at the end of the year irregardless of whether you are dead or alive.

NumbersUsacom · February 13, 2012 6:51AM

<< Is it true? that all scientific and technological process on earth, and all advancement of the human condition, is a result of this ancient formula for success:
Get some gold
Put gold in box
Lock box
Hide box
Die >>

Thats only good for the "metal Detecting" forum

Spooly · February 13, 2012 8:52AM

Gold looks good on Indian brides.

johnny9434 · February 13, 2012 8:53AM

<< Gold looks good on Indian brides. >>

they are all the more prettier when all dolled up like that

gsa1fan · February 13, 2012 9:38AM

I think them forehead dots are SEXY!

Hubba HUBBA!

mariner67 · February 13, 2012 11:45AM

"How many of you are following India's lead and keeping yours till death do you part or passing your GLD down a generation?"

I probably will need to sell somewhere down the road but before I die.
It will go to the next generation however because I am sure I will need the cash for my kid's college.

thatboyaintright · February 13, 2012 12:44PM

The part about how "selling their gold is like selling a part of themselves" is so true. I have several Indian friends and associates in the medical profession. I was approached by a physician who asked me to test and price some gold jewelry for a friend of hers who was in serious financial trouble. It seems she had invested heavily into a small shopping center developments just before the real estate crash and now owned several empty storefronts. With her loans and mortgages past due and facing the loss of everything she owned, she brought her jewelry box of necklaces and bangles to me to quote a price.

I tested and weighed about 500 grams of 22kt jewelry and quoted her a price 98% of spot. I fully disclosed that the lot was worth more than I offered as jewelry but I could only pay the gold weight. She took my card and said that my offer was $7500 higher than the jewelers she had taken it to.

She declined the offer. A week later, my physician friend said that based on my offer, she had loaned this woman the $25,000 that I'd said I would pay, and would keep the jewelry as collateral until the loan was repaid in a year. Even facing financial ruin, she just couldn't let it go. For both their sakes, I hope the economy turns around and this lady gets her jewelry back but I doubt it.

I think the 25K probably would stave off the creditors for 3 months or so based on what she told me.

Weiss · February 13, 2012 10:48PM

Thanks for sharing, guys.

Right at the end the jeweler talks about how his customers don't see their buying gold as being spending their money.

That's the way I've felt for years about both coins and PMs. I'm fortunate, or lucky, or whatever that the things I enjoy buying most are rare things that tend to keep and even grow their value. It's both satisfying and assuring when I go to my dealer and drop a few hundred bucks on goodies. It's like making a major purchase without spending any money.

60 Minutes on gold in India...

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