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Journalism of Courage
The government today said gold imports have increased in recent years and were valued at USD 42 billion in the April-January period of the current fiscal.
For 2011-12 they had reached USD 56.3 billion,Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
8220;India8217;s gold imports have increased in recent years reflecting the increasing size of domestic gold market,8221; Meena said.
Gold imports in 2010-11 were pegged at USD 40.5 billion,while in 2009-10 they amounted to USD 28.6 billion.
According to a report of the working group of Reserve Bank,gold is imported in India mainly through the designated banks and MMTC.
During 2011-12,gold imports through designated banks were estimated to be 603 tonne,or 56 per cent of total gold imports.
In a separate reply,Meena said India8217;s total external debt at the end of September is estimated at USD 365 billion.
High gold imports are putting pressure on the country8217;s Current Account Deficit CAD,which touched a peak of 5.4 per cent of the GDP in the July-September quarter.
The government has taken a number of steps to check import of the precious metal by hiking duty and also linking gold deposit schemes of banks with Exchange Traded Funds of mutual funds.
