India's April trade deficit rose to $17.8 billion on account of massive surge in imports of cheaper gold and silvers, which were up by 138% to $7.5 billion last month compared with a year earlier as retail consumers in the world’s biggest gold importer went on a buying spree after global prices fell.
Meanwhile, overall merchandise imports rose by 10.9% to $41.95 billion on y-o-y basis, driving the trade deficit up by more than 72% from March. On the other hand, India’s export increased by 1.6% from a year earlier to $24.16 billion, up for the fourth straight month. The increased import has also raised concerns over the current account deficit in Asia's third largest economy.
The government is already concerned over the burgeoning trade deficit as it depreciates the home currency leading to increased rupee cost of import and adds to the subsidy burden. Increasing subsidy adversely affects India’s ability to achieve its fiscal targets and poses serious impediments to tackling inflation. However, the government is taking steps to check the rising import especially of gold like it has hiked the import duty to 6% from 4% on gold import.
MoneyWorks4Me is a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) dedicated to helping investors build long-term wealth through transparent, research-driven, conflict-free guidance. Founded in 2008, we started our journey as a Research Analyst (RA), providing deep fundamental analysis, intrinsic value insights, and long-term investing frameworks for Indian equities. In 2017, we transitioned to a full-fledged SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, strengthening our commitment to acting as a fiduciary—always putting the investor’s interest first.
To become India’s most trusted, research-powered fiduciary advisory platform—where every investor, regardless of experience, can make calm, confident, and well-reasoned investment decisions.
MoneyWorks4Me ensures this through: