Kim James 
Traveling from the forested region of Wayanad in Kerala toward the northeast of the southern Indian country is breathtakingly scenic. But just before getting into the coastal metropolis of Kozhikode, something approximately the nondescript highway hits with a jolt. There’s an inescapable tinge of yellow that reflects from each facet of the road. It is the small, dusty metropolis of Koduvally, also referred to as the golden town of Kerala. With greater than a hundred gold stores lining a 500-meter stretch of road, Koduvally is home to one of India’s densest jewelry hubs and is among the biggest markets for gold in India.
What units aside Koduvally from Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar, in which most of India’s gold trade occurs, is that the jewelers in the south Indian metropolis recognize individual consumers. “There are less than 50,000 humans in this city. In truth, I name it a village. But there are so many gold stores that have been around for many years,” stated K Surendran, the proprietor of Archana Jewellers, who additionally heads the nearby gold affiliation in Koduvally. “Most those who come right here are searching out jewelry for themselves or their own family and not for buying and selling and so forth.”
India’s love affair
Indians love gold. So a good deal so that the country is the second one-maximum importer of the precious metal inside the global. Of the 505. Eight tonnes of gold imported by using nations the world over in July-September 2018; India accounted for over a quarter (134.8 tonnes)—2d handiest to China. In Indian folklore and historical legal texts like the Manusmriti, gold embellishes need to be worn on vital occasions, which has ensured the yellow steel’s recognition here, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). Hindus even have unique days wthat can be considered auspicious for getting gold, including Akshay Tritiya (which is being celebrated these days, May 07), and Dhanteras falls within the 2d half of the year, ahead of Diwali. Kerala tops the charts in this gold obsession. The citizens of this southern state spend the highest on gold compared to some other locations in u. S ., in step with the WGC 2017 file. Unlike a few different regions, each the urban and the rural populace of Kerala splurge on gold.
Kerala’s golden records
Before the 20th century, it is believed that there have been no jewelry stores in Kerala. Goldsmiths went door-to-door to sell their wares to ladies as they remained limited to their houses. Things took a turn almost 130 years ago whilst a couple of jewelers took the plunge and set up stores in Koduvally. Gradually, the numbers improved, and it ended up turning into one of the densest gold markets inside the united states. Since then, matters have changed dramatically. Now Kozhikode, almost 23 kilometers from Koduvally, boasts of a cell jewelry showroom on a bus. Over the years, branded jewelers had been wooing consumers inside the kingdom with their swanky showrooms, even as the smaller stores keep to flourish.
In reality, those small neighborhood stores aren’t simply sellers. They are worried about gold procurement, manufacturing, layout, and purity trying out from their tiny centers, along with the shops in Koduvally, Surendran said. This is a miles cry from many organized retail stores in metros wherein adorns hauled from large warehouses throughout u. S. A. The shops sell them. These personalized services presented at the smaller shops are one of the motives that hold customers dependable to them even inside the face of the rising multinationals.
Changing face
In current years, Koduvally has been hogging headlines for all the incorrect reasons. It has emerged as a smuggling hub and now debts for the very best number of smugglers, in step with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. Apart from the same old gold biscuits and bars being added in illegally to the place, traffickers were modern and long gone as some distance as eating it to circumvent officials. However, locals are quick to disregard it, pronouncing it’s far simply one essential mafia. This is ruining the call, and the local jewelry stores haven’t any function to play.
Gold organizations within the golden town are also coming of age. “Earlier Koduvally changed into the place wherein human beings from all the neighboring district and even slightly far off regions could come to shop for gold, but now that has modified,” defined Surendran. “Earlier, two human beings could begin a business, and then they might split a few years later. Then one might go and begin a new store in every other area. As a result, the market isn’t as focused now because it becomes earlier than the 2000s.”
But those bumps have hardly ever affected Koduvally’s obsession with gold and may not exchange matters inside the destiny either. “One has to keep in mind the population divide in Koduvally, ninety% Muslims and only 10% Hindus. Now, considering that lots of those Muslims also work within the gulf international locations wherein gold is given the identical importance, we anticipate a call for to keep growing right here,” stated the owner of another jewelry keep that is over 30 years vintage, soliciting for anonymity.
