The commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India’s imports of gold rose by 53.88% to $3.97 billion in April 2019, as compared to $2.58 billion in April 2018. After recording a negative growth in imports in February, gold imports started registering double-digit growth.
In March, it grew 31% to $3.27 billion. 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 tonnes of gold annually. The imports dipped about 3% in value terms to $32.8 billion during 2018-19.
Rise in gold imports have widened the country's trade deficit to a five-month high of $15.33 billion in April and fueled worries about the current account deficit (CAD). CAD widened to 2.5% of GDP in the Q3FY19 from 2.1% a year ago, though the foreign exchange reserves continued to soar.