India's Gold Imports Surge 132% in November

Chennai: Gold imports went up 132 per cent in volume terms to 130 tonnes in the month of November. For the January-November period, gold imports were 10 per cent up while silver imports were up by 121 per cent.

Gold imports in value terms reached a staggering $14.9 billion in November 2024, accounting for 21.2 per cent of India’s total merchandise imports of $70 billion. Gold imports in volume terms went up 132 per cent to 130 tonnes in November against 56 tonnes in the same month last year.

Between January and November, the country imported a total of 755 tonnes which was 10 per cent higher than 686 tonnes imported in the same period of last year, according to Metal Focus.

“After Diwali, we had seen a surge in gold buying as the prices fell drastically. This unusual buying led to replenishment by jewellers in November. However, we won’t probably see this huge growth in imports in December,” said Chirag Sheth, founder, Metal Focus.

However, silver saw a drop of 6 per cent in imports in November to 623 tonnes against 662 tonnes in the same month last year. Silver imports between January and November stood at 7500 tonnes, which was 121 per cent higher than 3389 tonnes imported in the same period of last year. During the entire year of 2024, the country had imported 3574 tonnes.

Meanwhile, GTRI finds that gold has been entering the country in ways other than official imports.

“Imports of platinum alloys containing gold from Dubai surged from $8.9 million to $1.6 billion, a 17,994 per cent increase during January-September 2024 compared to the same period last year. Imports from Japan totalling $621.7 million came in during January-September 2024 at zero tariffs. Imports of platinum, rhodium, and palladium solutions from Japan also reached $652 million. Gold and silver jewellery from Indonesia under ASEAN-India FTA, reached $905.2 million during the same period,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder GTRI.