And for a Friday as the US-Israel war with Iran intensifies ……. every country in the planet is affected & concerned ….. some thoughts … some musings …….
Global Geopolitics has been very Volatile & Brittle…….the conflict in Ukraine & Middle East has been dragging on ….. but suddenly the Iran war & its implications to the Middle East including UAE, Qatar, Bahrain , Kuwait , Saudi Arabia etcetc has brought the consequences to our door steps ……. Whether it’s the availability of daily needs …. or inflation… or livelihood for the millions ……the consequences are dire if the war lingers on …… we ofcourse hope & pray better counsel prevails & all parties are encouraged to sort out all issues diplomacy basis …… India has always stood by the principle …. In today’s age & time ……Wars have no place to solving problems …….they spread misery & pain to all parties …..
Whilst we hope for the best….. as a Nation we have to be prepared for the worst ……one of the major concerns will be the country’s falling currency & trade imbalance … our two biggest import bills are Oil & Gold ….. we import about 700 tonnes of Gold every year …… for jewellery & wealth holdings ……..ofcourse the RBI has enough foreign exchange & reserves ….. as a Nation we are far better positioned now than in the earlier decades …… but this could be the time to tap into the Nations huge reservoir of untapped wealth ……. The Private Gold with Indian families ….Morgan Stanley has estimated India’s private Gold to be in the order of 35,000 Tonnes possibly the largest in the World …. …currently these gold are in Bank Lockers or household safes … temple trusts …. & in various forms & holdings ….. most of which are under deployed & unproductive ……. RBI had introduced SGB in 2015 to shift demand from physical metal into financial instruments …….Many Mutual Funds have started Gold & Silver ETFs …….SEBI has directed all Mutual Funds to value physical Gold & Silver wef 1 April 2026 based on domestic spot prices & not on prices based on London Bullion Markets Association ( LBMA) ……. Many measures have been taken……. but we now need some very creative “Out -of-the-Box” scheme to take advantage of the current very high Gold prices to help citizens to monetise their gold & convert into wealth for the Family & shore up the Country’s International sovereign rating befitting the fourth largest Economy in the World ……
These are not easy times …., let’s hope for peace …. But let’s all prepare to face challenges ….the well organised way …… the Nation-First way ….. the SEEGOS way.