Eight kgs of gold recovered

Customs officials today recovered eight kgs of gold valued at Rs 2.75 crore at the airport here.
A total of 5.5 kg of gold was found in two separate unclaimed bags while a passenger was found carrying 2.5 kg of the precious metal in his hand baggage, airport officials said.
On India's gold imports, WGC said that in the short term,
the removal of some import restrictions will have two main benefits. First, nominated agencies will be better able to source bullion to meet the apparently endless appetite for gold in India. Second, this increased flow will likely make the environment less attractive for unofficial gold imports.

The outlook for dore (raw) gold imports is less certain as Indian refineries already face challenges in sourcing and the reduction of dore or bullion differential in 2016 Budget has dampened the incentive for refineries to source dore, the report stated.
"The huge excess refining capacity in India will come under further pressure in years to come, and we may see closures and consolidation in the industry," WGC noted.

On future of gold mining in India, the council felt that it has been hampered by bureaucracy and under-investment. The gold mining industry is small, but it has potential to grow.

According to government data, India's current defined gold reserves is 71.9 tonnes. In addition, 568.5 tonnes of gold are defined in the primary (hard rock) resource category while 5.9 tonnes have been defined within placer deposits.
Over 99 per cent of gold mineral reserves are located in Karnataka while the remaining in Jharkhand, although at under 0.2 tonnes, are trivial.
On gold monetisation, WGC said the outlook is interesting, but the scheme still faces significant challenges.
For the scheme to be a success, it needs to address the key issues of trust, ease of use, incentives and infrastructure. If any of these is overlooked, the scheme may struggle, the report pointed out.

Despite the significant stock of gold in India, WGC said, "Our view is that little of it will be monetised anytime soon. It will take time to build the necessary infrastructure, for banks to develop and market the right products, and for customers to respond."
It added: "Once the infrastructure is in place, greater volumes of gold can be monetised. We envisage up to 25 tonnes being monetised within the next 2-3 years.
According to the report, India has gold stocks of around 23,000-24,000 tonnes.
Southern India has the highest market share for gold demand (40 per cent), followed by western India (25 per cent), whereas it stands at 20 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, for north and eastern India.

Observing that gold industry in India is one of the most regulated, WGC said the industry still faces challenges. For a start, small and medium sized manufacturers struggle to obtain gold loans to purchase material.
For 2015-16, only Rs 727 billion were made available to the industry by the financial sector, which account for just 2.7 per cent of total bank credit.
This is unlikely to change anytime soon, WGC predicted.
India is dependent on imports and recycling to meet gold demand. Gold imports account for around 85 per cent of total supply and the refining sector plays an important role in giving these imports a suitable form.