New Delhi, May 11 -- Jewellery stocks such as Kalyan Jewellers India, Titan Company, and Senco Gold witnessed heavy selling in Monday's trade on May 11, falling upto 10% after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to avoid non-essential gold purchases for a year in order to help protect the country's foreign exchange reserves.

Modi's remarks on gold, made on Sunday, were part of a broader set of austerity measures that included reducing fuel consumption, avoiding foreign travel for a year, adopting Swadeshi products, cutting down on cooking oil usage, shifting towards natural farming, and curbing discretionary gold purchases.

Indian households remain among the world's largest consumers of gold. According to Commerce Ministry data,...