Jan 20 (Reuters) - Indian jewellery retailer Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri reported a 170% surge in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, buoyed by strong festive demand and higher store footfalls during the peak wedding season.
The company's net profit rose to 806.3 million rupees ($8.86 million) in the October-December quarter from 298.8 million rupees a year earlier.
Quarterly revenue rose 14.4% to 10.61 billion rupees.
The December quarter typically accounts for about a third of gold sales in the world's second-largest gold consumer, as it not only comprises festival days that are considered auspicious for gold purchases but it also coincides with the start of the wedding season.
Climbing gold prices also meant customers turned to the bullion for investment.
Spot gold prices rose nearly 12% during the quarter, driven by geopolitical uncertainties, rate cuts and robust central bank buying.
The sector has benefited from higher disposable incomes, supported by fiscal measures such as the goods and service (GST) tax cuts and income tax relief, which have left consumers with more spending power on discretionary purchases such as gold.
Peers such as Titan, Kalyan Jewellers and Senco Gold have reported robust quarterly sales growth, underlining broad-based sector strength.
OCT-DEC STOCK PERFORMANCE COMPARISON FOR PEERS
-- All data from LSEG
($1 = 90.9640 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
