By Julie McCarthy
National Public Radio, Washington
Monday, April 14, 2014
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/04/14/301412384/a-gold-obsession...
It's indestructible. It's
fungible. It's beautiful. And for Indians, gold -- whether it's 18-, 22-, or
24-carat -- is semi-sacred.
The late distinguished
Indian economist I.G. Patel observed, "In prosperity as in the hour of
need, the thoughts of most Indians turn to gold."
No marriage takes place
without gold ornaments presented to the bride. Even the poorest Indian
outfits girls in the family with a simple nose ring of gold.
The India of old was
known as "sone ki chidiya" or "golden sparrow," so
opulent were the jewels of its rulers from the Moghul dynasty to the princely
states.
... Dispatch continues
below ...
For Indian women who were not formally educated, gifting them gold was their
social security. Today, whether Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, or Muslim,
bedecking the bride in gold invests her with good fortune, according to
anthropologist Nilika Mehrotra.
"A married woman is
supposed to be an auspicious woman. She represents Lakshmi, the goddess of
wealth. She produces the progeny for the family, the food. She takes care of
the family," Mehrotra says. "It's very important. It's central to
the way Indians think."
Mehrotra notes that in
India today land is stolen from women. Women have been disfigured in acid
attacks attempting to assert a claim to family property. But gold seems to be
the one asset that everyone agrees a woman can rightfully possess.
"For sure,"
says 38-year-old Anshu Srivastava. "That is my property. That is
considered to be [a] lady's right."
The living room of this
New Delhi homemaker, like Ali Baba's cave, leaves no doubt about her
obsession. Every inch of décor — from her couches to the pillows on the couches
to the drapes on the windows — is the color gold.
Discreetly hidden beneath
the Srivastava's sleeve is an eye-popping array of gold jewelry. A
diamond-crusted gold watch peeks out alongside gold bracelets or
"bangles" that are studded with rubies and more diamonds.
Asked if she leaves the
house with all those treasures on her wrist, Srivastava says, "I always
wear this. It's always with me."
And if she's robbed?
"It's my
destiny," she says with a shrug.
Srivastava has gold
stashed in bank vaults for her teenage daughter one day. She has her own
personal jeweler.
Srivastava opens up for
us her vast collection of jewelry boxes, revealing exquisite gold from her
in-laws and her husband. But the most precious are the heirlooms from her
mother who began collecting jewelry for her from the time she was 8.
Her stockpile of gold
earrings, rings, necklaces, and hairpins is lavish but also reflects the
centrality of gold in an Indian woman's life. It's given for pregnancies; at
births; when a baby first eats solid food. It's engrained in the cultural
lexicon.
The temptress in the
star-studded, high-wattage dance number from the 2001 Hindi blockbuster Kabhi
Khushi Kabhi Gham (translated, Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness)
croons, "My bangles sing, 'I'm all yours.'"
The old Bollywood classic
"Mother India" tells the story of how gold redeems the family's
honor. The heroine in this 1957 melodrama is reduced to pawning her gold
bangles with the cunning village money lender to save the family farm. Music
swelling, she slips off her jewels but never lets go
her dignity.
So enthralled is India
with gold that Indian households control an estimated $600 to $800 billion
worth of it, mostly in women's jewelry. That's four times the U.S. reserves
in Fort Knox.
A women's right to use
her gold as she sees fit can vary in India. Anthropologist Mehrotra says
women, especially some in the conservative north, require family permission
to dispose of their gold.
"This kind of
limitation, this restriction on her right I think suits the patriarchy, so
she is not totally free," Mehrotra says. "Her choice is limited by
the nature of the structure of which she is a part."
When Delhi resident Pooja
Sharma walked away from her marriage, her husband kept the mother lode of her
gold. With the little jewelry she had left, she secured a $400 gold loan, her
first, to pay her ailing father's medical bills.
Sharma, a financial
adviser accustomed to dealing with banks, laughs recalling how she agonized
over pledging her jewels with the lender who exchanged her gold for cash and
safekeeping until the loan was paid off.
"Twice I went to
them for clarity, one branch, second branch, different branches," she
says, "and then I decided, 'OK, I'll invest.'"
Thousands just like
Sharma walk each day through the guarded branch doors of Muthoot Finance.
With 4,000 branches nationwide, the firm transacts the equivalent of more $50
million in gold loans per day, with interest rates from 12 to 24 percent. At
Muthoot, all it takes is 15 minutes for gold to be assessed and cash
dispensed -- a speed no bank could match.
Couple Snigdha Paul and
Sanjeev Dey have a new business thanks to their $500 loan, using her and his
jewelry as collateral. They are proud owners of a new flower boutique in
South Delhi, which Dey calls "A dream come true."
Dey stands before his
stall adorned with yellow lilies and pink carnations and chuckles at his good
fortune. "That gold has helped me," he says. "I am also part
of this economy." He admits his venture is small but says he is able to
hire employees.
"I am eradicating
unemployment," he says proudly.
... An Idle Asset?
The couple's story is
repeated throughout India: The assets of a wife put to work to build small
businesses, often for the husband. Avinav Chaubey, head of marketing for
Muthoot Finance, says an earlier television ad campaign run by the company
featured crafty wives urging their husbands to put their gold to good use,
maneuvering around the taboo of men asking women for money.
The loans challenge the
traditional view of gold as an idle asset.
Yet economist Jayati
Ghosh insists that obsessive buying of gold deprives India of genuine
investment.
"Gold is a pure
leakage out of the system. It basically is the same as putting your money
under a mattress. Well, it's really putting gold bars under the
mattress," Ghosh says, "So it's a huge waste especially for a poor
economy that needs investment."
The Reserve Bank of
India, which is akin to the U.S. Federal Reserve, has been struggling to
limit gold imports to stop depleting India's foreign reserves and to cut the
current account deficit. It has had some success.
But with hundreds of
millions of Indians without a bank account or access to formal credit, using
gold to secure their dreams is not about to stop.
Back at Muthoot Finance,
Sanjeev Dey's wife, Snigdha Paul, says she'd put her gold ring up as security
again if the couple decides to expand their flower stall.
"Actually, if I'm
getting some benefit in return, then why would I say no," she asks. Her
husband interjects that she is now vested. "That money is earning more
money. Money begets money," he declares.
His petite wife
confidently adds, "After all, it's mine: the business and gold and cash
-- everything is mine. So in return, I'm getting more benefit."
Snighda is reminded that
the lender has already returned her gold ring and that the couple's loan is
now secured exclusively by her husband's gold. Snighda
smiles. "His jewelry is my
jewelry," she says.
The sentiment is symbolic
of a "new India," where traditional adornments of the old India are
producing a new form of wealth -- for women.
-----
Julie McCarthy is
NPR's New Delhi correspondent.
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