The commerce ministry’s latest data has showed that gold imports, which have a bearing on the country’s current account deficit (CAD), fell 14.23% to $28.2 billion during 2019-20 as compared to $32.91 billion in 2018-19. The decline in yellow metal imports has helped in narrowing the country’s trade deficit to $152.88 billion during the last fiscal, as against $184 billion a year ago.
In volume terms, the country imports 800-900 tonnes of gold annually. To mitigate the negative impact of gold imports on trade deficit and CAD, the government increased the import duty on the metal to 12.5% from 10%.
Besides, gems and jewellery exports declined 11% to $35.8 billion in 2019-20. The country’s gold imports dipped by 3% in value terms to $32.8 billion in 2018-19. Meanwhile, the country is the largest importer of gold. Yellow metal imports have been recording negative growth since December last year.