Mumbai: Import of gold into India rose to US$ 3.4 billion during February 2017, as compared to US$ 1.4 billion a year earlier, but the overall imports for the first eleven months of the previous fiscal were still about 24% below the levels for the comparative period a year ago, according to data released by the Indian government, as reported widely in the media.
Total gold imports for the period April 2016 to February 2017 stood at US$ 23.22 billion as against the US$ 30.71 billion worth of gold imports over the same period a year earlier.
Analysts attribute the decline partly to the softening of prices in the domestic as well as global markets, as well as a significant drop in volume terms over the period due to various initiatives taken by the government.
During the first ten months of FY ‘17, India imported 560.32 tonnes of gold, well below the levels imported in the immediate preceding years. Gold imports totalled 968.06 tonnes in 2015-16 and 915.47 tonnes in 2014-15.
