November gold import highest since May 2013

The import bill in Nov 2014 was up almost seven fold over the same month a year ago

India's gold import stood at around 146 tonnes in November, the highest since May 2013, in anticipation of further supply restrictions.

Trade data presented by the government reported the gold import bill at $5.61 billion equivalent to 146 tonnes in quantity terms in November 2014. Gold import bill recorded a sharp jump of 571.28 per cent in November 2014 as compared to $835.83 million in the comparable month last year.

Falling prices of gold in November also helped importers build their inventory to meet expected seasonal and festival demand. Gold price fell $1,146 an oz in November before recovering to $1,200 an oz in London.

Gold import was lower in 2014 due to sharp increase in import duty steadily to 10 per cent and 80:20 scheme introduced by the government to curb import and control widening current account deficit.

As against the broad speculation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 29 withdrew the 80:20 scheme under which a fifth of imported gold was asked to supply to jewellery exporters. Since then, gold import remained subdued.

Since November 29, gold has not been imported nor arrived consignments are cleared till date. High gold import in November reported third month in a row. However, bullion dealers still believe gold import policy may be reviewed once again.

Silver import bill also shot up by 143.80 per cent to $643.86 million in November this year from $264.09 million in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the government data showed jewellery exports shot up by 42.14 per cent to Rs 22814.08 crore in November 2014 as against Rs 16,050.26 crore in the same month last year.