Gold imports declined by 7 percent in the April-November period of the current financial year, to about $ 20.57 billion. According to the Commerce Ministry data, the figure was $ 22.16 billion in the same period of fiscal year 2018-19. At the same time, gems and jewelry exports fell nearly 1.5 percent to $ 20.5 billion in the April-November period. On the basis of value, the country's gold imports fell nearly three per cent to $ 32.8 billion in 2018-19.
Reduction in gold imports has helped in reducing the country's trade deficit. In fact, in April-November of 2019-20, the trade deficit was reduced to $ 106.84 billion. The trade deficit was $ 133.74 billion in the same period a year ago. According to the RBI data, in the July – September period of 2019-20, the current account deficit (CAD) was reduced to $ 6.3 billion, or 0.9 percent of GDP. At the same time a year ago, this figure was $ 19 billion, which is 2.9 percent of GDP.
The annual gold import of the country is 800–900 tonnes. The government increased the import duty on gold from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent in this year's budget to reduce the negative impact of gold imports on trade deficit and current account deficit. According to industry experts, companies working in this field are shifting their manufacturing base to neighboring countries due to high tariffs.
Meanwhile, the Gems and Jewelery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has demanded reduction in import duty. Let us know here that India is the largest gold importer in the world and is mainly imported to meet the demand of the jewelery industry.
