FEWER auspicious days later this year compelled Ramesh Phalke, an auto company employee in Maharashtra, to hold his daughter’s wedding in May. This bride was lucky because many other weddings will likely be postponed — to the dismay of the country’s jewelers.

    Gold is an essential part of the bride’s dowry in India and also a popular gift from family and guests at weddings. In fact, Kerala uses up to 400 grams of gold per wedding, or 80 tons each year — which is about 10 percent of the country’s total consumption in 2014.

    Weddings are one of the biggest drivers of gold purchases in the world’s top consumer. But this year the contribution could be smaller as the Hindu calendar shows the number of auspicious dates for weddings will drop 40 percent in the second half from a year earlier.

    “Jewelry demand could drop by 30 percent (year on year) in the second half due to fewer weddings,” said Prithviraj Kothari, vice president of India Bullion & Jewellers’ Association.

    He also expects demand in the second half to come in below first-half levels. The last time this happened was in 2013, according to World Gold Council (WGC) data.

    As India meets most of its gold requirements through imports, dwindling local purchases during what should typically be the peak season will dent global prices of the metal, with a looming hike in U.S. interest rates and slower demand from No. 2 consumer China further adding to the gloom.

    Earlier this year, the WGC had forecast a revival in Indian demand to as much as 900 to 1,000 tons in 2015, citing robust economic growth. But an expected slowdown in jewelry sales and forecasts for below-normal monsoon rains that would crimp the spending power of rural buyers are now marring that optimism.

    Daman Prakash Rathod, director with Chennai-based wholesaler MNC Bullion, expects jewelry sales in India to soften from mid-June onwards.

    Signs of weakness in the local gold market have already emerged. Sellers are offering a discount of up to US$2 per ounce to London prices to attract buyers, said Kishore Zaveri a gold jeweler based in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.(SD-Agencies)