Gold is part of India’s social fabric. As prices soar, customers watch, wait but, ultimately, still buy [Video]

Sidheshwar Shirsath, who lives in the suburbs of India’s financial capital, Mumbai, first started buying gold when he got married nine years ago.

Shirsath, 35, works as a driver and earns about 55,000 rupees ($889 Cdn) a month. He decided that gold might be a good way to build a nest egg for his family’s future.

Whenever he had some cash to spend, he purchased gold jewelry, including rings and bangles, and he now has about 130 grams of gold, worth more than one million rupees ($16,000 Cdn).

“Sometime after I first bought gold, the rates started increasing, so my interest in investing in it also grew,” Shirsath said.

In recent months — to his delight — the price has skyrocketed.

Gold globally was trading at $3,298 US an ounce on Friday morning, up more than 25 per cent since the start of the year, and up 42 per cent …