Cumulatively, inbound goods rose 27.27% to $58 billion on April 3, 2024, compared with $45.54 billion in 2023-24.
The increase in imports also demonstrates strong confidence among investors in precious metals as safe assets. Other reasons include increased bank demand and rising prices, and diversification of assets due to global uncertainty.
On April 17, gold prices rose by Rs 70, reaching another record of Rs 98,170 per 10 grams in the national capital. Prices surged after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement, weaker gains, escalating trade war tensions and growing concerns about global economic growth to record the highest levels.
However, the price of silver fell 1,400 rupees to 98,000 rupees per kilogram. In the previous market, the price of white metal was Rs 99,400 per kilogram.
Silver imports were signed in March at 85.4%, reaching $119.3 million. It fell 11.24% to $4.82 billion in 2024-25. Switzerland is the largest source of gold imports, with about 40% share, followed by the UAE (more than 16%) and South Africa (about 10%). Precious metals account for 8% of the country’s total imports.
From a quantitative perspective, imports fell to 757.15 tons in 2024-25, compared with 795.32 tons in 2023-24.
Gold imports fell about 62% in February, while gold imports fell 40.8% in January and rose 55.39% in December 2024.
The jump in gold imports pushed the country’s trade deficit (the difference between imports and exports) to $21.54 in March. In the last fiscal year, it hit an all-time high of $282.82 billion.
India is the world’s second largest gold consumer after China. Imports mainly take into account the needs of the jewelry industry.
Gem and jewelry exports during the month rose 10.62% year-on-year to about $3 billion. However, the $32.7 billion in 2024-24 fell 8.84% to $29.82 billion in 2024-25.
In the December quarter, India’s CAD volume reached USD 11.5 billion in the December quarter of the year-on-year period, accounting for 1.1% of GDP, mainly due to higher trade deficits. It expanded to $37 billion (1.3% of GDP) from the corresponding period last year from April to December 2024.
