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NEW DELHI (Commoditiescontrol) - India's gold imports dropped by 22 percent to USD 1.59 billion in January this year as prices rebounded and buyers postponed purchases in expectation of cuts in the import duty.
According to the Commerce Ministry's data released today, gold imports by India, the world's second-biggest consumer of gold after China, stood at USD 1.59 billion in January this year as against USD 2.04 billion during the same month in 2017.
Gold imports had increased 71.52 percent to USD 3.39 billion in December 2017.
The Ministry's data further showed that export of gems and jewellery rose marginally by 0.89 percent in the said period.
Separately, precious metals consultancy GFMS has said that gold imports in January were at a 17-month low as prices rebounded and buyers postponed purchases.
"Last month the industry was expecting the duty cut in the Budget. People were not willing to build inventory," as per GFMS. The expectation of the duty cut in January prompted traders to offer the highest discount in four months over official domestic prices.
However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley kept the import duty unchanged in the Annual Budget presented on February 1.
The rebound in overseas prices also kept buyers on the sidelines.
India is one of the largest gold importers in the world, and the imports mainly take care of demand from the jewellery industry. The country imports 700-800 tonnes gold annually.
Meanwhile, WGC said in its latest report that India's gold demand grew by 9.1 percent to 727 tonnes in 2017 as compared to 666.1 tonnes in 2016 due to low prices coinciding with Dhanteras, positive economic backdrop and improved consumer sentiment especially in rural areas.
The growth was mainly driven by jewellery demand in 2017, which was up by 12 percent at 562.7 tonnes compared to 504.5 tonnes in 2016. In value terms jewellery demand was up 9 percent at Rs 1,48,100 crore, from Rs 1,36,290 crore in 2016.
Total investment demand was down 2 percent at 164.2 tonnes in 2017 compared to 161.6 tonnes in 2016. In value terms, gold investment demand fell by 1 percent at Rs 43,220 crore, from Rs 43,650 crore in 2016.
In the national capital, gold of 99.9 percent and 99.5 percent purity today rallied by Rs 350 each to Rs 31,650 and Rs 31,500 per ten grams, respectively.
Globally, gold was on track for its fourth straight session of gains as the dollar skidded to its lowest in two weeks on concerns about the impact of high levels of US debt and tax cuts.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,353.73 an ounce after earlier hitting its highest since Jan 25 at $1,357.08. It had risen 1.6 percent on Wednesday, its highest one-day gain since May 2017.
US gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,356.8 per ounce.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau; +91-22-40015534)
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