India’s Gold Imports Total 85 Tonnes in April

Jon Economy, Energy, Gold, Market Commentary, Precious Metals

India, the world’s second-largest gold consumer, imported 85 metric tonnes of gold in April, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said.
Shipments have totaled about 60 tonnes so far in May, Das said in an interview in New Delhi on Friday. Purchases jumped 78 percent in value terms to $3.13 billion in April from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. Imports in March more than doubled to 125 tonnes from a year earlier, according to the Finance Ministry.
India is set to become the world’s top consumer this year as economic growth accelerates and China’s booming equity markets reduce the appeal of bullion, according to P.R. Somasundaram, the World Gold Council’s managing director in India. A 42 percent rebound in crude oil prices from a six-year low in March and rising gold imports pose a threat to India’s current-account deficit as the country imports about 80 percent of its oil needs and almost all its bullion.

This post was published at bloomberg