MUMBAI, May 22 Reuters India39;s gold imports in 2024 could fall by nearly a fifth from the previous year, as record high prices spur retail consumers to exchange old jewellery for new items, the head of an industry body told Reuters.

Lower imports by India, the world39;s second biggest consumer of the precious metal, could cap a rally that carried global prices to a record this week.

Affordability is severely affected by the rapid price increase, said Prithviraj Kothari, president of the India Bullion and Jewellers Association IBJA. Retail buyers prefer exchanging old jewellery for new.

Buyers save money as they only pay the jewellery making charges and tax when exchanging old ornaments for new ones, since they do not have to pay for the gold.

Preparing for his daughter39;s wedding, Vinayak Patil exchanged 50 grams of old jewellery for new ornaments this month as prices put new jewellery out of reach financially.

After adding making charges and taxes, I needed 475,000 rupees to buy 50 grams of new gold jewellery, which I couldn39;t afford, he explained, referring to the equivalent of 5,700.

So, I decided to exchange old jewellery and pay just the making charges and taxes, which amounted to around 90,000 rupees, Patil said.

Old jewellery, also known as scrap supplies, is recycled, and used for jewellery making.

In the March quarter, scrap supplies jumped 10 from a year ago to 38.3 tons, data from the World Gold Council showed.

Lower demand due to record…