Banks saw an increase of over 30 percent in sales of gold coins and bars on Dhanteras as compared to last year.

Some banks recorded the highest ever sales of yellow metal. Leading Indian banks like State bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC bank and Axis bank experienced a huge growth in sale of gold on diwali.

Pointing out a growth of more than 50 percent in sale of gold coins, an official of SBI said. An official of SBI pointed out that there was more than a 50% jump in the sale of gold coins." SBI sold gold coins of 2 gm, 5gm, 8gm, 10 gm, 20 gm and 50 gm. Around 35 branches of State bank of India in Kolkata have sold gold coins to retail customers on Diwali.

Some of the branches of ICICI bank witnessed a 100 percent increase in gold sales on dhanteras. A bank official pointed out that the overall gold sale was 20 percent higher than the previous year.

Officials from HDFC bank said that its branches in the eastern region did very well on Diwali this year. The region saw a growth of more than 35 percent over last year and accounted for 18-22 percent of the overall growth.

An Axis Bank official said that the eastern region registered maximum sales in gold coins and bars among all zones during Dhanteras despite the fact that it is not a festival of East.