India’s gold demand fell 29 percent year on year to 162.5 tonnes in the July to September quarter of 2026, the World Gold Council said, as record prices, a higher import duty and changing buying patterns weighed on both jewellery and investment purchases. Jewellery demand declined 20 percent to about 100 tonnes and investment demand through bars and coins fell 40 percent to 55 tonnes.
The council expects the weakness to leave full year demand at about 650 tonnes, within a range of 625 to 675 tonnes and the lowest since 2020, when the pandemic closed jewellery shops. Sachin Jain, the council’s chief executive for India, told Reuters that demand should improve in the December quarter on Diwali and wedding season buying, but that high prices and a weak rural economy after a poor monsoon would cap the recovery.
The volume fall is not a spending fall. The value of Indian demand rose 3 percent year on year in the quarter to about 2.42 trillion rupees, with domestic prices averaging about 45 percent higher than a year earlier, and demand in the first nine months was 12 percent lower by weight while its value rose 38 percent. Buyers are spending more and taking home less metal.
For the global balance, the Indian shortfall sharpens the split visible since Tuesday. Total global demand including over the counter transactions was 1,369 tonnes in the third quarter, down 1 percent year on year, with the official sector and funds absorbing what consumers are stepping back from. Wednesday’s price rebound, back above 4,000 dollars an ounce, does nothing to repair Indian affordability.