Akshya Thrithi - To buy or not to buy gold

Akshya Tritiya falls this Sunday (May 16) and I guess, there would be usual rush to buy gold. Well, on one side there is a sentimental tag attached, and on the other side, we are witnessing a tremendous rise in gold prices. In May, the rates of per gram gold in Chennai rose close to Rs:70. Sensing the trend, all the Jewelers would try to cash in this season by offering discounts. Interestingly, I stumbled upon this link about various offers.

http://www.asklaila.com/search/Chennai/-/Akshaya%20Tritiya%202010/?searchNearby=false&v=event

Srikanth Ramu

Auspicious Days to buy gold

Its been close to a month since I started writing about Gold @ http://golddata.blogspot.com/. Unlike Wordpress, in Blogger.com there is no built-in analytics option, hence, I singed up with StatCounter.com to analyze the web stats of my blog. Interestingly, StatCounter.com shows good stats like Number of visits, Regions, Referrer link, Keyword details etc. Analyzing search keywords helps a blogger to understand reader preference and write about it, and this posts does exactly that. From the recent search keyword stats, couple of searches were on auspicious days to buy gold, so here it is:

Auspicious Days that are considered good for gold purchases are:

1. Akshaya Tritiya
2. Dhanteras
3. Pushya Nakshatra days
4. Gurupushyamrit
5. Vijayadasami
6. Shubha Muhurtham Days
7. Regional New Year like: Gudi Padwa , Yugadi etc.

It is believed that when you purchase Gold on these auspicious days, you would have a prosperous year ahead. And, you would be blessed with wealth and happiness. No matter you believe on auspicious days are not, its always good to manage your funds by diversifying your investments periodically. And, gold is one such investment option.

Now, to the keyword analysis, it is surprising to see for some search keywords, my blog http://golddata.blogspot.com/ is listed on the first page of search results. Below are a few search keywords:

1. Gold prices, 22ct, India, November 2009
2. rate of gold in India in the month of October
   
3. 1gm gold chennai 7 november
4. trend in gold coin rate
5. gold price graph chennai
   

Srikanth Ramu

Gold Coin as an investment option

Traditionally, Gold is considered to be a safe investment option as it is neither perceived risky as stocks nor requires huge investment as in reality/property sectors. And when you consider Gold as investment option, then buying Gold in the form of coins has its own advantages.

1. The associated wastages and making charge is much lesser when compared with Gold Jeweleries
   
2. Coins could be easily converted to Jewelries when required
3. Convenient handling
   
4. Its a good option for Gifts, normally, I prefer gold coins for gifts, as you need not worry about the color, design, size, utility of the gift
   

Source of Gold coins for purchase: Gold coins can be purchased from below options, however, each have their own specifications, rates, discounts etc.

1. Jewelry marts or stores sell custom made coins besides selling jewelries. The price include following components:
   
1. Wastage Charge ranging from 1% - 5%
   
2. Tax (Sales Tax/VAT) - 1%
   
3. Few stores charge making charge as well
   
   Please note that the above are only an indicator, you may have to check with stores directly for accurate pricing. One advantage in buying from these stores is, you could sell the coins back to them. When you sell coins, mostly you would be offered jewelries with same weight, and in some stores you could also get cash back.
   
   
2. Banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank offer Gold coins mostly imported from Switzerland. These banks only sell coins but do not accept/buy coins from consumers
   
3. Selected Post Offices

Hope, this post gives you some idea about Gold Coins as an investment.

Srikanth Ramu

Jewelry Stores @ T. Nagar

With the Diwali celebrations gone by, the festive season has just begun, as more festivals such as Karthigai Deepam, Eid, Christmas, Pongal are on the cards, with in next 3 months. Need less to say, people would go for a shopping spree with the shops offering attractive seasonal offers. When you talk of shopping at Chennai, the first place comes to your mind is T.Nagar/Thyagaraya Nagar - Chennai's Shopping Hub. If you live in Chennai, then you would hardly miss visiting T. Nagar for your purchases, especially for those big festivals and celebrations. Moreover, you would find an array of Jewelry Stores ranging from tiny shops to multi-storey palaces.

Recently, one of my friend came down to Chennai from Hyderabad and called me at 6:30 A.M, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from him and that too early in the morning or in my lingo it was Mid night!!. Well, he wanted to know the route to visit T.Nagar, as his wife was desperate to do shopping at T.Nagar. Poor chap didn't realize that it would be a costly affair, but then, you cant stop the inevitable. Sensing the urgency at the other end, I guided him and suggested few options as well. Some of the Jewelry marts @ T.Nagar are listed below in no particular order:

1. GRT Jewellers
2. Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers
3. Lalitha Jewellery Mart
4. Bapalal Jewellers
5. Prince Jewellery
6. Joyalukkas
7. Khazana Jewellery
8. Saravana Stores Gold Palace
9. Sree Kumaran Thanga Maligai
10. LKS Gold House
11. Tanishq
12. Original Kerala Jewellers
13. Kerala Jewellers
14. NSC - Nathella Sampathu Chetty
15. Rathna Stores Firm Thanga Maligai
16. Jayachandran Gold House

Srikanth Ramu