Save and invest as you shop till you drop

Which Indian heart can despise gold? Indians are attracted to the yellow metal like the sailors were attracted to the sirens’ musical notes in Greek mythology. The 15th Dubai shopping festival (DSF) is banking on this particular consumer trend seen primarily amongst Indians.Mohammad Kamali, Marketing Head of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment said, “A majority of the shoppers in the DSF are Indians and we have noticed that gold seems to be the main draw.” DSF would see around 6,000 retail outlets with heavy discounts attached to their wares and Kamali added that most of them would be gold outlets.Kamali expects a 10% rise in the number of tourists from India and hopes that at least 20% of them would be from Karnataka. Last year, around 3.35 million globe trotters visited Dubai during the festival and spent around 9.8 billion Arab Emirates Dirhams. “India and the cooperation council for the Arab states of the Gulf are the main markets for us,” Kamali added. Besides a plethora of promotional offers and discounts ranging up to 75%, many visitors would angle for the raffle draws. Gold is most coveted. In the last 14 DSFs, in all, 560 kg of gold was given away in lucky draws. Mumbai-based Angel Broking’s Head Commodities Research, Amar Singh, said that the value of gold has trebled in the last four years.And although prices have multiplied, the metal remains unparalleled in its value among Indians. The price of gold was around Rs16,880 for 10 gm on Friday. This is primarily because gold has great asset value and can be hedged against inflation. It is also one of the rarer metals that will always give good returns. In the last decade, gold has given an annualised return of around 16-17%.In shopping festivals like the one in Dubai, one can buy gold in the form of either biscuits or jewellery. The making charges in India are around Rs 150/gm-Rs 400/gm, which may be more expensive than in Dubai. The preference is therefore to get jewellery there.However, Singh added that this year, with the economic situation yet to stabilise, many may prefer buying gold biscuits that have more asset value than jewellery. The festival this year is expected to garner a turnover of $2.67 billion over its 32-day span, beginning January 28. The budget for DSF 2010 is around 65 million Arab Emirates Dirhams.The downturn in Dubai does not seem to have dampened the spirit of the shopaholics, considering that Emirates airlines has seen a steady rise in passenger traffic to the Gulf from Karnataka.