Gold imports have been recording negative growth since December last year. India’s gold imports contracted for the fifth consecutive month in a row, falling by about 100 per cent to USD 2.83 million in April due to the lockdowns imposed globally on account of coronavrius outbreak.
The decline in Bullion imports has helped in narrowing the country’s trade deficit to USD 6.8 billion during the last month as against USD 15.33 billion a year ago.
India is the largest importer of gold, which mainly caters to the demand of jewellery industry.
In volume terms, the country imports 800-900 tonnes of gold annually.
Gems and jewellery exports declined 98.74 per cent to USD 36 million in April.
The country’s gold imports have a bearing on CAD, which is the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign exchange.
Bullion imports fell 14.23 per cent to USD 28.2 billion during 2019-20 as against USD 32.91 billion in 2018-19.