India Gold Import Duties Rise to Curb Demand

India has increased the duty on gold imports for the second time in six months, in an attempt to rein in surging demand for the precious metal.

The finance ministry said it had raised the duty to 8% from 6%.

Gold is a preferred investment option among Indian consumers and the recent drop in its price has boosted demand.

But gold imports are also one of the biggest contributors to India’s current account deficit, which has been rising, prompting concerns among policymakers.

A current account deficit, which is the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign currency, occurs when a country’s total imports are greater than its exports.

via BBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza