The price of gold has more than doubled in the last decade, and experts say that those who do have gold jewellery are increasingly recycling it. The government has tried for decades to mobilise the huge quantities of idle gold stashed in bank lockers and Godrej almirahs. The first gold monetisation policy was announced 25 years ago. When the scheme was revamped in 2015, consumers were offered higher interest and tax exemptions. Despite this, India hasn’t been able to figure out how to harness the whopping $1.4 trillion lying with households to reduce its gold imports. Consumers are more open to taking loans against their gold and this practice has risen post the pandemic.
I recently entered the gold recycling market when my mother wanted to give my daughter a heart pendant that she had bought for me when I was a child and which I had rarely worn. When my mother saw her granddaughter’s expression and realised another generation was unlikely to wear the pendant, she suggested hopping over to the nearest Tanishq jewellery showroom to “exchange” it. I was sceptical but I tagged along.
It didn’t take my teenager time to identify a delicate pendant she liked. Next, a carat machine checked the gold pendant we had taken along, told us how much it was likely worth. Once we said we were interested in exchanging it, a karigar (every Tanishq store including the smallest one in Kudal, Maharashtra, has a certified karigar) melted it on the spot and gave us a smooth gold pebble. We had the added joy of watching the heart go up in flames. The gold was then checked again to determine its final price. You get the same rate for buying and selling. After that, it was just a question of showing some identification and taking home the new jewellery. The entire exercise took us less time than it does to get to the head of the trial room line at H&M on the weekend.
I was blown away by my experience at Tanishq and decided to find out more. Though the company has offered the gold exchange facility for two decades now, it’s only in the last couple of years that it has brought this programme centerstage. Last year was the first time the company created an advertising campaign around this service.
The campaign was all about numbers: 27.74 lakh customers exchanged their gold; 1.68 lakh customers bought diamonds without paying anything; one lakh brides paid nothing for their wedding jewellery.
“Forty percent of our business comes from old gold,” says Arun Narayan, vice president, marketing and retail. Some 1.5 lakh kg of gold has been exchanged so far. “It took us 14 years to get to the first 50 tonnes and seven years to reach the next 100 tonnes,” Narayan adds.
The idea for the scheme was born two decades ago when Tanishq first introduced a carat meter to check the purity of gold. Until then, it was largely assumed. “A lot of women who came to check their gold and avail our free service went back dismayed. One of them told our then COO Jacob Kurien that he had actually created a problem and that he needed to solve it,” says Narayan. “That’s what triggered the gold exchange.”
Now, Tanishq urges consumers to reexamine that broken piece in their locker or the one that they rarely ever wear. Over the years, Narayan says, consumers discarded their beliefs that the yellow metal is a representation of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, someone you welcome and never send away. “Exchanging jewellery has become far more acceptable, especially in the south.” Tamil Nadu leads in exchanges, followed by Maharashtra.
And for those who would rather not part with heirloom jewellery, the company now offers a way to repurpose it. “You can convert a necklace into a bangle,” says Narayan, “and have your grandmother with you as you take your wedding vows.”