New Delhi: India’s gold imports rose by 6.6 per cent to USD 2.94 billion in November, logging a growth for the second month in a row, according to the commerce ministry data.
Gold imports had risen by 5 per cent to USD 1.84 billion in October after a three-month fall from July.
Total imports in the current fiscal until November were, however, down by imports were down by 7 per cent to USD 20.57 billion. Imports of the yellow metal stood at USD 22.16 billion in the same period of 2018-19.
The decline in gold imports has helped in narrowing the country’s trade deficit to USD 106.84 billion during the eight-month period under review as against USD 133.74 billion in the year-ago months.
The current account deficit also dropped to 0.9 per cent of the GDP in July-September due to lower gold imports.
India is the largest importer of gold, which mainly caters to the demand of the jewellery industry.
In volume terms, the country imports 800-900 tonne of gold annually.
To mitigate the negative impact of gold imports on the trade deficit and CAD, the government increased the import duty on the metal to 12.5 per cent from 10 per cent in this year’s Budget.
Industry experts claim that businesses in the sector are shifting their manufacturing bases to neighbouring countries due to this high duty.
The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has asked for a reduction in import duty to 4 per cent.
Gems and jewellery exports declined by about 1.5 per cent to USD 20.5 billion in April-November this fiscal.
The country’s gold imports dipped about 3 per cent in value terms to USD 32.8 billion in 2018-19.