The import of gold surged by more than two folds and stood at $16.95 billion during the first half of 2017-18 compared to import of $6.88 billion in April- September 2016-17. According to the data compiled by the Commerce Ministry, import of the precious metal dipped by 5% to $1.71 billion in September this year compared to $1.80 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal. The contraction in gold import last month helped narrow the country’s trade deficit to a 7-month low of $8.98 billion.
The import of the metal is expected to increase on account of the festival season, which has started this month. Increase in inbound shipments of gold also bloated the current account deficit (CAD) to $14.3 billion, or 2.4% of the GDP, in the three months to June in 2017-18.
India is the world's second-biggest gold consumer after China. The import mainly takes care of demand of the jewellery industry.