India gold imports seen at record levels

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Mumbai, November 20:: India's gold imports in the current year are likely to be higher than in 2006 and could even rise to a record 800 tonnes as high sales in the first half and good demand for retail bullion may make up for poor sales during Diwali, a research house and a trade body said late on Monday.

"Thousand tonnes looks less likely, but it still looks like it is going to be a record level," said Philip Klapwijk, executive chairman of GFMS Ltd, referring to trade forecasts earlier in the year.

Prices at sub-9,000 rupees per 10 gram levels in the middle of the year sparked off high sales of bullion leading to bullish forecasts for imports.

But prices resumed an uptrend, rising above 10,700 rupees during the peak of the festivals in November, dampening sales.

"Early data that has come in shows imports in October were around 40 tonnes, so we could have already crossed last year's level," said Ajay Mitra, managing director of World Gold Council in India.

According to WGC's latest data, imports in January to September were at 689.7 tonnes, up from 491.8 tonnes in the same period last year. In 2006, India imported 721.9 tonnes of gold.

The country's highest ever imports recorded by WGC was 774.4 tonnes in 1998.