Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Why Do People Buy Gold or Silver on This Day?

Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Akshaya Tritiya will be celebrated all over India on 3 May this year. The day is considered to be one of the most auspicious occasions in the Hindu calendar. Many people start new business ventures or projects on this day.

Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on the Shukla Paksha Tritiya of the Vaishnava month, is also associated with buying gold and silver. People welcome Goddess Lakshmi on this day by purchasing metals like gold. Many people also believe that whatever you buy on this auspicious occasion stays with you forever.

Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Auspicious Time to purchase gold

The Puja timings for worshipping Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Vishnu on Akshya Tritiya is from 5:39 am to 12:18 pm on 3 May 2022. The auspicious time to buy gold starts at 5:39 am on May 3 and continues till 5:38 am on May 4, as per the Panchang.The entire day of Akshaya Tritiya is considered fruitful to invest in gold, silver or any other material.

As Akshaya Tritiya approaches, here is why people buy gold and silver on this auspicious day:

It is said that Lord Kuber once ruled the city of Lanka, before he was banished by Ravana. Kuber performed penance and led a devout life to win the blessings of Lord Shiv and Lord Brahma.

The city of Alkapuri was constructed near Mount Kailash for Kuber by Viswakarma, the architect of the gods. It is said that Kuber was granted the role of the custodian of the wealth of heaven on Akshaya Tritiya. Devotees believe that buying gold on Akshaya Tritiya and worshipping Lord Kuber will bring prosperity to their family.

Another anecdote form the Mahabharata also narrates how Akshaya Tritiya came to associated with buying gold.

Lord Krishna once visited the Pandavas, while they were in exile. During his visit, Draupadi felt ashamed as she could not prepare a feast for him. Lord Krishna accepted a small leaf that was stuck to the cooking vessel as food and stated that the love that that the Pandavas had for him would satiate his hunger.

He also granted a boon to the family- the Akshaya Patra. The vessel supplied the family with endless food when they were in exile. Thus, people believe that buying gold on Askhaya Tritiya will lead to boundless good fortune for their family.

Some legends also associate the birth of Lord Parshuram, the sixth avatar of Vishnu with the occasion.

Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Puja Timings

According to Panchang, Tritiya tithi will begin at 5.18 am on May 3 and will remain till 7.32 am on May 4. On Tuesday, the auspicious timings of worshipping Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi are from 5.39 am to 12.18 pm.

Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Purchase Timings

Akshaya Tritiya is one such day on which you can put your money into anything without giving a thought about the auspicious timings. The whole day is said to be fruitful to invest in gold, silver, or any other material. Apart from this, the day is also very auspicious for engagements and weddings.

Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Significance

In Padma Purana, it is written that Lord Vishnu told Narada that whatever deeds humans do on this day, they attain the fruit of their labour in the afterlife. Hindus believe that one must restrict themselves from taking any wrong step and talking ill about others on Akshaya Tritiya.

Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Muhurat

This year, the muhurat for Akshaya Tritiya will start at 5:39 am on 3 May and continue till 5:38 am on 4 May.

Akshaya Tritiya Date 2022: Gold price in India is showing an uptick and the yellow metal is currently available at a spot price of around Rs 51000 per ten gram. Traditionally, Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on May 3, 2022, is celebrated as a day when people purchase gold and treat it as a prized possession to own. While the most popular way of owning gold is buying physical gold either in the form of jewellery or gold coins, an increasing number of people are also buying sovereign gold bonds and gold ETF, both available in paper form. In addition, there are gold mutual funds as well.

Before we read about the gold products, let us see if buying gold in the current environment makes sense. “Gold because of conflicting forces is likely to be in a consolidation mode for some time. In the past, periods of consolidation in gold prices have proven to be great entry points for investors, benefitting from the upcycle in prices that followed. This makes this Akshaya Tritiya a conducive time for under-allocated investors to accumulate gold and bring up their allocation to 10-15% of their portfolio,” says Ghazal Jain, Associate Fund Manager – Alternative Investments, Quantum AMC.

Now, let us visit each one of them and look at their features to make an informed gold buying decision.

Jewellery Buying

If your aim is to use gold as wearable or purchase jewelry for marriage purposes in near future, buying physical gold is the best way forward. However, remember, there are ‘making charges’ involved that may bring down the returns by 5 to 15 per cent for you. Make sure the jewellery has all the four marks of Hallmark to meet its genuinity. At the time of return or exchange of gold through a jeweller, there is a probability of losing a high amount.

Gold coins

Purchasing gold coins available in different denominators such as 1 gram, 10 gram to 50 gram and above is also an option. In addition to private companies there is government owned MMTC offering hallmarked coins through its various outlets all across the country. While buying gold coins make sure to know the return or exchange policy from the manufacturer. Augmont Gold with their Gold Atom collection is another option that one may consider. The Gold Atom coins come with the purity of 24k 999 and are in the form of key chains and bookmarks with lifetime Buy back Guarantee at the Gold value.

Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB)

Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) has emerged as a popular and a much simpler way to invest in gold. One just needs a demat account and a bank account to buy SG bonds as and when the government rolls out the SGB tranches. If one does not want to wait to invest in the primary issue of government’s tranches, they can buy SGB after they are listed on stock exchanges. Each SGB will have a tenure of eight years while premature redemption can be made after five years. The investment in SGB will also earn an interest of 2.5 per cent which is a unique feature of these bonds. Another advantage of buying SGB is that there is no capital gains tax when redeemed on maturity.

Gold ETF

Gold exchange traded funds are available on stock exchanges and the units can be bought or sold on all trading days of the stock exchange. The prices are very close to the real price of gold prevailing on that day in the country. Some of the prominent gold ETFs are Goldman Sachs Gold Exchange Traded Scheme or the Gold BeEs, Quantum Gold Fund (ETF), UTI GOLD Exchange Traded Fund, HDFC Gold Exchange Traded Fund, ICICI Prudential Gold Exchange Traded Fund.

Digital Gold

There are several digital platforms that enable gold buyers to transact in gold digitally around the clock for ticket sizes as low as Rs 1, with the tap of a button. The digital gold purchased on these platforms can also be converted into physical coins or bars and stored in a vault.

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1 thought on “Akshaya Tritiya 2022: Why Do People Buy Gold or Silver on This Day?”

  1. Gold is sharply lower by 4.7% against its mid-April high of $1,998. Benjamin Wong, Strategist at DBS Bank, sees Yellow metal ongoing decline as being corrective.

    Gold has high probability to test late March low at $1,890

    “Quick sequential loss of the $1,944 and $1,925 support pegs returns the focus to gold’s late March lows at $1,890, and thereafter the next Fibonacci support cluster at $1,849.”

    “Our base case is that for gold to abandon its rally inherent from March 2021’s $1,677 lows would be a slip under $1,780-$1,763. Otherwise, gold needs to rebuild its credentials with a move over $1,967-$1,980 resistance patch.”

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