Restrictions on gold imports are likely to continue until at least March-end, notwithstanding an improvement in the current account deficit situation.
“Our point is that we need to keep the CAD (current account deficit) low. We cannot afford to let it go and therefore, at least for this fiscal, we should not tamper with the what the regime is.
“...And whatever is to be considered should be considered in the next year after fully understanding how the CAD will look for the next year,” Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told the news agency in an interview.
He said his Ministry gets various kinds of advice and one view is to open up gold imports as demand has been compressed significantly.
Recently, Finance Minister P Chidambaram too said that some curbs on gold imports should remain in force. However, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan favours doing away with the restrictions, which encourage smuggling.
Gold imports fell to 19.3 tonnes in November from a high of 162 tonnes in May in the wake of a series of curbs by both the Government and the RBI.