Indore: A rise in rural jewellery purchases has lifted the gold market and the demand is likely to remain high in coming months ahead of weddings.Rural demand accounts for about 60 per cent of the total gold demand. Encouraging earnings from summer crops has lifted the purchasing capacity of rural buyers.Sarafa Association president Hukum Chand Soni said, “Gold demand has gone up in the past weeks due to weddings and family functions. We are hopeful that demand will remain high in coming months as well.”Wedding season is the peak time for buying and gifting gold as it is considered auspicious and the tradition is deep rooted in the Indian culture. It starts from November and will extend until May.Soni said, “Most of the jewellery purchases are being done by rural customers from nearby areas. Spending capacity of rural consumers has increased due to good summer harvest.”An increase in demand has escalated the gold prices in the past week. At the local Sarafa market of Indore, gold is available at Rs 31,300 per 10 grams and silver is trading at Rs 39,200 per kg, traders said.Sarafa houses about 1,500 shops while the Sarafa Association has about 800 members.To cater demand from urban areas, jewellers have also introduced light weight fancy jewellery items designed from Mumbai, Kolkata and Rajkot to attract customers.Indore Sarafa Association secretary Avinash Shastri said, “Rural demand is more about traditional and heavy designs, but customers from city side prefer light weight fancy ornaments.”Traders expect a slowdown in demand around Holi but purchases are likely to bounce back a week later ahead of weddings.They said investment demand is still poor as prices are high but user based demand is driving the market.Jewellers said that gold below Rs 30,000 per 10 grams is an attractive buy opportunity in the wedding season.

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