Literature Review:

It was interesting to go through the available literature. In a report by World gold council it was observed that people in India see Jewellery as matter of status, tradition and love. Not only this gold is considered as safe mode of future investments which passes from generation to generation. According to a research conducted by Tanishq5 buying roles of Consumer were studied in form of various stages : Initiator : 64% of womens says that they got jewellery as gift once in their life time and maximum times they have received the same from their family members. Influencer: Who is influencing the buying decision. It can be for family, friends, and needs. This survey tells that non of the women were influenced by their female friends hence they infer that women play minor role when it comes to influencing her friend in buying of Jewellery. Decider: Its the women who decide which jewellery to buy. Hence the end user is the decider according to this survey. Buyer: In case of married lady buyer is mostly herself or spouse. Whereas in case of Unmarried it is family members. User: Initiator is mostly the user. i.e. ladies themselves. Buyer decision process: Normally problem recognition takes place in terms of need i.e big occasions or attraction towards some particular design. For this information search takes place in terms of advertisements like elder ladies in the family etc, then they evaluate the alternatives based on various factors like trustworthy, price, design, brand name etc. Some important factors which came up during survey was design, price, uniqueness, nearness of a particular jeweler , shopping experience etc . It is observed that price is important factor which comes up during final purchase6. A study on consumer attitude towards gold ornaments7 states gold is an ultimate love object to Indians . It has tendency to pass away from one generation to another.

Jewellery designs vary from region to region. In South India designs are inspired by nature , in North & West India designs are inspired by Mughals like meenakari and kundan work . With all this Indian Jewellery is also entering into International markets like USA, EU, South East Asian countries etc. A study conducted by Rohna O Connel states that gold has an emotional feeling in Indian context , as it is called as Streedhan The Indian bride wealth which she takes with her when she marries and which remains hers . This helps to give gold an important role in empowerment of women. According to another study conducted on shopping for gold a ritual experience8.This study went through ritualization of gold buying activities keeping three propositions when Indian Women Purchase gold , why they buy gold and actions & behavior during purchase. In depth interviews were done. This was a qualitative research with 12 statements prepared based on Why, when and How women purchase jewellery . They concluded with saying gold is artifact within Indian consumer society and gold buying is ritual activity. Womens primarily purchased gold for Jewellery, few were supporting Investment and financial security for family and future.

A study was done by Avinash G Mulky9 for finding buying pattern of platinum jewellery , where they used factor analysis to find principle reasons for a consumer interest and buying behavior in platinum jewellery. The results for buying behavior was for daily wear as it looks contemporary and goes well with western wear , it is well accepted on weddings and on auspicious occasions of akshaya tritiya but they found gold is still better than platinum.

A report on jewellery market consumer 200610, study was done based upon jewellery buyer preferences, behavior and attitude. In depth analysis was done on jewellery market size, demographics of buyer and jewellery buying behavior. This research investigated key differences in jewellery buying needs between men, they were primarily gifting to women. Women were purchasing for self or as gift.

Many research paper were studied for finding the reasons why gold prices are increasing. In a study conducted by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry11 study based on the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC) it was stated that India and China are two countries where the demand for gold is driving up the gold prices. It was stated that gold is used for reserve, hedge against inflation, manufacturing jewellery, in order to make profits.

Another article How to invest in gold12 Mrs. Shweta B H states different view investing, she suggest protecting wealth rather than creating wealth and states that gold is one such investment . The article also states that gold is an asset which has long term intrinsic value which helps to shield from inflation, currency debasement and equity market bears. It also helps to save countries purchasing power and are not much effected by countries economic condition. They recommended to have 10-20% gold in investment portfolio.

Mike Caggeso of Money Morning13 an online investment guide suggested various ways of investing in gold. Some are gold coins, gold ETF, gold mining companies gold futures , bullion gold but the most popular is gold jewellery in Indian market . A report by World Gold Council states various regulatory changes that has come in gold market such as gold control act which was implemented in 1968 was abolished in 1990, forbidding the holding of gold in bar form. This was a part of economic reform which took place in wake of balance of payment crisis in 1990-91. In 1993 Foreign Regulation Act came permitting nonresident Indian to bring 5 Kgs of gold into country twice in a year after paying tax. This allowance was raised to 10 Kgs by 1997. In 1997 Committee on Capital Account Convertibility (CAC) allowed import and export of gold under open general license. In 2003 custom duty was reduced from 25 per gram to 10 per gram.