Kolkata: Navaratri has been lacklustre this year for the gold trade in the country. Volatility in gold price and muted market sentiment brought down gold demand by 40-50 per cent from last year’s Navaratri-Dussehra period. Rural demand, which accounts for 60 per cent of the country’s gold consumption, has not improved as farmers are yet to sell their crops to generate cash.

“We had thought that demand will pick up as prices fell in the beginning of the Navaratri period. But subsequently............ET