Food for thought......1 May 2018 11:50
According to several estimates, Indian people collectively hold the greatest amount of gold in the world, calculated at 26,500 tons, or about 850 million ounces, worth roughly $1.1 trillion.
Two factors may drive all that gold buying: Diwali and weddings. Diwali is the most important of the Hindu holidays. (According to the most recent census, almost 80% of the Indian population are Hindus.) The five-day Diwali festival often features buying gold, which many Indians see as a status symbol for wealth. Because Indians highly value gold, it is also often a key feature in weddings. Because of these two factors, Indians typically invest more than 8% of their annual income to buy gold each year.