(FE)
Gold imports by India gained more than four-fold in April driven by jewelers restocking in anticipation of a recovery in sales during the wedding season that will last till mid-June. Shipments rose to 98.3 metric tons last month from 22.2 tons a year earlier, according to a person familiar with provisional data from the finance ministry, who asked not to be identified as the data aren’t public. Imports were affected a year earlier because of a strike by jewelers to protest an excise tax on jewelery made and sold locally. Finance Ministry spokesman D. S. Malik declined to comment on the data.
Indian demand recovered this year as cash supply improved following measures taken by the government to curb unaccounted-for money, a move labeled as demonetization. Annual purchases may be at the higher end of an estimated range of 650 tons to 750 tons in 2017, according to the World Gold Council. Sales during the auspicious gold buying day of Akshaya Tritiya at the end of April were about 5 percent higher than last year, Sreedhar G. V., managing director at Sree Rama Jewels, said.
