- India Bullion Director said high premium on physical silver and silver ETFs is a short-term market distortion
- Bhargava Vaidya said the premium offers a short-term arbitrage opportunity expected to normalise in 4-5 months
- India's silver shortage is 'due to inefficiencies' in import infrastructure and limited bank involvement
The significant market premium currently driving physical silver and silver exchange-traded funds is expected to be a short-term distortion that will normalise over the next few months, according to Bhargava Vaidya, director of the India Bullion and Jewellers Association.
The current high premium presents a "fantastic arbitrage opportunity" for professionals in the short term. This premium may taper out in the next four–five months, the IBJA director said in a conversation with NDTV Profit on Wednesday.
Vaidya explained that this arbitrage opportunity exists because the market has created a wide gap between paper silver prices and the physical metal, which is currently facing a crippling supply crunch.
Silver Shortage
He primarily attributes the shortage to systemic inefficiencies in India's import infrastructure.
"We are seeing a slowness because the import in India is restricted to a few banks. They do not give the same importance to silver as gold," Vaidya stated. "It's time for the banking system to gear up for any changes."
This bottleneck creates a "time gap between demand and supply", which becomes particularly acute when all buyers converge.
Vaidya highlighted silver's nature as a bulkier metal, making logistics challenging. Even per kilo, there is a "huge premium on the supply, he said. He added this price hike "will be higher during Diwali", advising that "regulators will have to be careful".
The IBJA's view of the premium as a temporary issue is echoed by the AMFI Chief Executive Venkat Chalasani.
Providing context to the market shock, Chalasani said the overvaluation was a "temporary phenomenon" driven by a "global shortage" of the metal, and that fund houses are managing risk independently.
Chalasani pointed out that the issue is not exclusive to India and cited a classic sign of immediate demand outstripping supply. "The spot price is higher than the futures in terms of silver," he said.
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