Festive spending diverts capital from crypto, reducing short-term volumes.
India was consuming 46 tonnes of gold on Dhanteras 2025, equivalent to Rs 60,000 crores (~$7.15 billion USD) in middle-class purchases. The high demand in investment made Silver sales of Rs 15,000 crores (~$1.8 billion USD). Gold was near to one point three hundred thousand and fifty rupees per 10 grams and silver was about one point seven two thousand rupees per kilogram.
Scooter and bike shipments reached 5 lakh units, due to past trends of festivals reported by SIAM. There was a total of 100,000 car deliveries, which included 51,000 car deliveries by Maruti Suzuki. Incentives based on GST and Diwali promotions in advance would have increased buying. The forecast of the Rs 1 lakh crore worth of festivity expenditure is an indicator that domestic demand is strong in spite of the high prices. Analysts see such numbers as a sign of refuting an economy that is stagnant. The consumer confidence seems to be high and the households of the middle classes are still investing in gold, silver, and vehicles.
Demand of gold and silver during festivals diverts the capital invested in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Bitcoin was also trading around $68,000 on October 19, 2025 slightly below recent peaks, and crypto ETF inflows in India fell back to 200 million in October, compared to 300 million in September. Corporeal possessions are still more popular culturally, restricting the use of crypto in the short term. The traders are likely to minimize trading during festivals when there are urban investors.
The cultural value of Dhanteras influences the buying of gold and silver. Superstitions and custom prefer material belongings compared to the electronic ones. Even crypto adoption despite its increased popularity does not receive the same cultural support, especially in rural areas. The festive period can also reduce the short-term trading volumes in Indian exchanges by 1015 percent.
The apprehensive attitude of the RBI towards crypto, inflation rates of 5.5% in the year 2025, and the promotion of gold and silver investments favors the investment of these metals. A 30-percent crypto tax is another deterrent to retailing. The short-term competitive pressure on the precious metals saw a slight correction of crypto by 5-10 percent within the same period. Regulated exposures like digital gold tokens compete with crypto as these are safer alternatives. Regulation barriers do not allow the widespread crypto replacement, restricting the inflows during the festival period.
The Dhanteras expenditure pattern reflects an Indian economy that is healthy. Although traditional assets are still predominant in the short term, crypto has opportunities with the size of the overall wealth and the development of digital tokens. High expenditure in emerging markets can indirectly favour the global crypto markets at the expense of temporary price decrease and low volumes. The purchasing power of the middle class in India was very high on Dhanteras 2025 with the Indians spending Rs 75,000 crores on gold and silver and 25,000 crores on vehicles. This speaks of economic strength and confidence in consumers.
