Lavaculture Revisiting Itself

Greetings to all of our Lavaculture viewers, readers, and listeners. So far, Lavaculture has enjoyed several months of development in its initial stages of development. We have established a happening social network system, received feedback from our audience, and really expanded our ideas, visions, and ways of achieving them. While we still have much more to share, we wanted to take a moment to just reflect on where we are, what we want to do, and continue our research from there.

At the moment, our first goal is to sell the products on our site:

www.lavaculture.com

Our site is now also integrated into the social network and will be surprising you with a few sales in the coming months. Subscribe to our blog, Twitter, Youtube, or Facebook, for we will be sending coupons to all of those who are interested and let us know! As we sell these currently available exported items from India, we will continue sharing our research with you and working to bring you our first products in the department of jewelry. So, in the meantime, please have a look at what we have posted, give us your feedback, interact with us, and we will be delivering shortly.

Check out our video to hear the hostess state her mission and vision:

Also, take a look at this site:

http://www.sheyna.com

This is very much a great example of the direction that Lavaculture would like to take. However, our jewelry, although it will become available to all who enjoy it, will be mostly tailored for women in the world of business and media, including television presenters. So, if you are interested or have any ideas that you would like to share, please, by all means, comment in any of our social sites for we will be looking to find out what will serve you. We need your input now more than ever.

Sincerely,

Lavaculture

A Peek at Gems

Before finishing our gold series, Lavaculture decided to take a peak at the gems in the central market of Delhi known as Paharganj, or Main Bazaar. This area is also known as the ghetto of Delhi, for you can find the cheapest wholesale goods in this area, along with a daily flow of hundreds of tourists.

Watch the video below to meet Pankaj Poddar, owner of Poddar International which is a jewelry shop dedicated to the westerners in this area. This video is mostly an exploration of the market place, as well as a brief introduction into gems before we dive into this topic.

India's Intrinsic Love of Gold

So what is it that keeps Indians crazy for gold?

There are several reasons why Indians consume so much gold. One of the main reasons can be generally attributed to their culture. In India, gold represents the goddess of fortune, Laksmi Devi who is a worshippable demi-godess. This is one of the reasons why ladies never place gold jewelry on their feet or anywhere below the waste. By gifting gold, one invites fortune into their own life as well as to the receiver's life. Gold has been very much part of the tradition and immense history of Vedic ceremonies.

In the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India, elaborate rituals have been described in which Kings and the wealthy warrior class known as the Ksatriyas, gifted vast amounts of gold to the Brahmanas, the priest class of society. These Brahmanas would in turn give blessings and invoke good fortune to the giver of gold as well as to the society.


For this reason, gold consumption tends to increase during religious festivals or weddings and makes up 60% of the gold demands in India. These festivals or weddings don't take place whimsically, but in congruence with India's climatic changes. Beginning with Deepavali—or the light festival in November and ending in March with Holi—the color festival, this period makes up the harvesting season. The wedding season, taking place from October to May is another high time for gold. Weddings are the time for overwhelming displays of wealth and the invocation of good fortune, which explains the exaggerated amounts of gold that are gifted to the uniting families, especially—the bride. 

It is interesting to note that weddings take place during this period because there are no rainy months. During the rainy season, rituals and offerings cannot be offered to the gods because they are resting and consequently, cannot bestow their blessings.

On a more practical level, Indians know that gold is a protector of wealth and therefore, the real currency or indicator of wealth. Every family man knows that money comes and goes quickly, but converting assets such as property, money, or houses into gold, the future is secure. Security, on that account, is another one of the main reasons that Indians are currently investing in gold.

The current trends of gold consumption are nothing new, but simply an inherent investment habit that has grown large due to the increasing population of those making higher incomes. And yes, in spite of the fact that their buying power has caused fluxes in the world market, they stand firm and ready for more.

So, we have plenty of information about India's relationship with gold, both spiritual, traditional, and financially, but, where do we go if we want to buy gold, the legal way? That's a good question.

Read more next week to find out where in the world, is the best place to buy gold.




Works Cited:

www.goldnews.bullionvault.com

www.economictimes.indiatimes.com


*The photos included in this article are a courtesy of google. Thank you!

Indian Gold Trade

Having explored the silver market last week, Lavaculture has taken a plunge for gold. Although India is a land rich in many resources, it is unfortunately barren when it comes to gold. For centuries, India has had a history of gold smuggling that dates back to the 1830's.


Because of  its' low domestic gold production, which currently averages about 2 metric tons annually, India turned to foreign countries for gold, whether legally, or illegally due to the 1947 importation ban. This means that despite restrictions, India's gold consumption increased throughout the century, although sometimes taking dips during World War 2. As rates of illegal gold import increased, in 1992 the ban was lifted. Although this has not stopped the still existing illegal gold smuggling, it simply caused gold consumption rates to surge.



To this day, India is the number one gold market on the planet, and whether India gets its gold through official, or unofficial trade routes, the last few decades have demonstrated an even further rise in demands. In 2010 India averaged 700 metric tones and an expected 800 tons for 2011. Chief executive of National Spot Exchange Ltd., the country's largest exchange for the gold trade say that despite the increasingly high prices for gold this year, the demand continues. India Bloomberg experts say, "price is no longer an issue." The combined Indian household is known to have 15,000 metric tonnes of gold. It is a curious thing that one culture will own so much gold. Read more to find out why.
 

Works Cited:


www.goldline.com 
www.businessweek.com
*The photos included in this article are a courtesy of google. Thank you!