NEW DELHI: Gold imports fell 10.3 per cent to $1.80 billion in September due to sliding prices of the metal in both global and domestic markets. According to data from the Commerce Ministry, gold imports had stood at $2 billion in September last year. The imports of the precious metal have been declining since February this year. A dip in the imports helps contain the current account deficit. The contraction helped narrowing the trade deficit to $8.33 billion in September this year as against $10.16 billion in the same month of 2015.
The imports mainly take care of demand of the jewellery industry. For the full year, current account deficit stood at $22.1 billion, or 1.1 per cent of GDP, as against $26.8 billion, or 1.3 per cent, in 2014-15. As per the data, silver imports too went down to $139.16 million in September as against $484.74 million in the corresponding period last year. The country’s total official gold imports declined to 60 tonnes in April-July of this fiscal year, much lower than 250 tonnes in the year-ago period. India, the world’s second biggest gold consumer after China, imported 650 tonnes in 2015-16.
