When the World Gold Council published its first Gold Demand Trends report 30 years ago, Asian demand made up 45% of the world's total. Today, the Asian share of global gold demand is approaching 60%.

China and India have driven this migration of gold East. The World Gold Council describes the two countries as "super consumers" of gold. Thirty years ago, China and India accounted for about 20% of annual consumer gold demand. Today, the two countries make up nearly 50% of gold demand.

The Indian gold revolution started in the early to mid-1990s when government policy changes freed up the market. In 1992, gold demand in India accounted for 340 tons. In 2022, that had more than doubled to 742 tons.

India now ranks as the second-largest gold-consuming country in the world behind China.

Gold is not just a luxury in India. Even poor people buy gold in the Asian nation. According to an ICE 360 survey in 2018, one in every two households in India purchased gold within the last five years. Overall, 87% of households in the country own some amount of the yellow metal. Even households at the lowest income levels in India own some gold. According to the survey, more than 75% of families in the bottom 10% had managed to buy gold.

Indians traditionally buy and hold gold. Collectively, Indian households own an estimated 25,000 tons of gold and that number may be higher given the large black market in the country. The yellow metal is interwoven into the country's marriage ceremonies and cultural rites. Indians also value gold as a store of wealth, especially in poor rural regions. Two-thirds of India's gold demand comes from these areas, where most people live outside the official tax system.