Physical gold held by the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the National Stock Exchange of India peaked to the highest level ever at 4.57 tonnes during May. The total gold by India's five gold ETFs (seen above) showed an approximate 10% rise in physical bullion holdings compared to April.

The rise in physical gold held by India ETFs was boosted by the Akshaya Tritiya festival, which took place on May 7th and 8th. Akshaya Tritiya is a traditional Indian holiday that celebrates the beginning of  Treta Yuga, the second of four ages of man, and is recognized as the day that the Ganges River, the most holy and sacred river of India, descended to the earth from heaven. Indian tradition says that buying gold during the Akshaya Tritiya festival will provoke  prosperity.
 
Reuters India reported that Sanjiv Shah, executive director at Benchmark Asset Management, the largest Indian gold ETF, believes that the months ahead may see continued rise in gold ETF purchases with weak stocks, high inflation and softer dollar drawing more investors to gold.

- luke