Due to massive reduction in customs duties and festive demand, gold import more than doubled in August to a record $10.06 billion. According to the data released by the Commerce Ministry, gold imports in the same period last year stood at $4.93 billion. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, in his reaction to this record level of gold import, said that the customs duty rates on gold have been slashed so that gold smuggling and other activities could be curtailed. Barthwal said that this is the time when jewellers start stocking their products for sale during the festive season.
Why did imports increase?
In the budget for the financial year 2024-25, the government had announced a reduction in the tax from 15 per cent to 6 per cent. India’s gold imports declined by 4.23 per cent to $12.64 billion in the first four months (April-July) of the current financial year. In the last financial year 2023-24, the country’s gold imports rose by 30 per cent to $45.54 billion. The increase in gold imports widened the country’s trade deficit (the difference between imports and exports) to $29.65 billion in August.
Where is the maximum import from?
India imports maximum gold from Switzerland, the share of which is around 40 percent. After this, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in second place with over 16 percent share and South Africa is in third place with about 10 percent share. If we talk about India, the share of this precious metal in the country’s total imports is more than five percent. India is the second largest consumer of gold in the world after China. This import mainly meets the demand of the jewelry industry.
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What are the gold prices?
Incidentally, gold prices are seen falling on the country’s Multi Commodity Exchange futures market today. At 7.30 pm, the gold price on MCX is quoted at Rs 73,325, down by Rs 171 per ten grams. While during the trading session, the price of gold had declined to Rs 73,126 per ten grams. However, on Tuesday, gold opened with a slight decline to Rs 73,298. While a day earlier the gold price had closed at Rs 73,496.
