New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) India's gold imports surged 81.69 per cent year-on-year to USD 5.62 billion in April, driven by high prices of the precious metal, though imports may decline in the coming months following the government's sharp increase in customs duty on the yellow metal.

According to the commerce ministry data, silver imports jumped 157.16 per cent to USD 411 million during the month under review.

Gold imports rose 24 per cent to hit an all-time high of USD 71.98 billion in 2025-26. In volume terms, however, the imports dipped 4.76 per cent to 721.03 tonnes.

The government has increased import duty on precious metals from 6 per cent to 15 per cent effective May 13.

"With the higher import duty on gold and silver, there will definitely be some impact in terms of lower imports during the year. We need to wait and watch how much it will be," Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal told reporters here.

However, in the case of silver, the impact of a higher duty may be relatively lower due to its extensive industrial usage.

"But definitely the consumption-based requirement of gold and silver should go down based on this duty rise," Agrawal said.

On gold import from the UAE, he said it fell both in value and volume despite the higher unit value in 2025-26, leading to a significant drop in the UAE's share of India's overall gold imports.

Under the India-UAE comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), a Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) mechanism was put in place for the import of gold bullion at a concessional rate of duty (a 1 per cent concession over the prevailing customs duty).

The pact came into force on May 1, 2022.

According to the data, total gold imports stood at 795 tonnes in 2023-24 and 757 tonnes in 2024-25. The share of imports under the TRQ mechanism was only about 5 per cent (40 tonnes) and 18 per cent (about 140 tonnes), respectively, the official said.

In 2025-26, the allocated quantity under the mechanism was 8.58 tonnes. India has imported 721 tonnes in the last fiscal.

"I would like to clarify that the tariff rate quota concession on gold under the UAE CEPA agreement has not had any major consequence on our gold imports for the year 2025-26," Agrawal said.

He added that the total TRQ that was issued during 2025-26 for gold import under the pact was only USD 8 billion (about 8 tonnes) and that the TRQ is valid till June 2026.

"The actual import by March 31st was around 1 tonne of gold only. So that has not been a very strong impact of UAE CEPA as far as the gold import is concerned," Agrawal said.

He said that any import increase of bullion from the UAE in the last few years has been compensated by an increase of bullion imports from India's main source - Switzerland.

"Import of gold dore for refining in the country has maintained a positive trajectory, and the total import of dore remains around 250-300 tonnes per year in the country for refining and that comes from multiple sources, like Africa, Latin America and also the United States," the secretary said.

Similarly, silver imports jumped about 150 per cent to USD 12 billion in the last fiscal due to higher prices. In volume terms, it rose by 42 per cent to 7,334.96 tonnes in 2025-26.

The rise in imports of these precious metals in April has pushed the country's trade deficit (difference between imports and exports) to a three-month high of USD 28.38 billion.

Prices of the yellow metal are hovering around Rs 1,56,000 per 10 grams (inclusive of all taxes) in the national capital. Silver was priced at around Rs 2.53 lakh per Kg.

Switzerland is the largest source of gold imports, with about 40 per cent share, followed by the UAE (over 16 per cent) and South Africa (about 10 per cent).

The precious metal accounts for over 5 per cent of the country's total imports.

The total imports from Switzerland rose 26.73 per cent to USD 1.47 billion in April.

India is the world's second-biggest gold consumer after China. The imports mainly take care of the demand by the jewellery industry. The imports have implications for India's current account deficit (CAD).

India's current account deficit rose to USD 13.2 billion, or 1.3 per cent of GDP, in the December quarter from USD 11.3 billion in the year-ago period, mainly due to a wider trade gap caused by a decline in exports to the US, according to RBI data released on March 2.

However, the current account deficit moderated to USD 30.1 billion (1 per cent of GDP) in April-December 2025 from USD 36.6 billion (1.3 per cent of GDP) in the same period a year ago.

A CAD occurs when the value of goods and services imported and other payments exceeds the value of export of goods and services and other receipts by a country in a particular period.

To discourage these imports, the government has imposed import curbs on all forms of articles of gold, silver and platinum. PTI RR HVA

Gold and silver import surge meets higher customs duty as precious metal inflows weigh on trade balance and current account. Gold and silver imports rose sharply in April, with gold reaching USD 5.62 billion and silver USD 411 million, while higher customs duty on precious metals is expected to reduce imports. The article notes that the UAE CEPA tariff rate quota for gold bullion had limited impact on overall imports, with Switzerland remaining the largest source of gold and imports continuing to affect the trade and current account deficit.