Close to 6% growth on manufacturing picking up in Jan-Mar: Rangarajan
high. It was around USD 35-40 billion. But last year it was USD 60 billion. Why this extraordinary increase? There are many reasons for it. One is, attraction towards the yellow metal. And of course, to some extent gold is becoming a hedge against inflation," he said.
Gold imports, as of numbers available up to October and November last year, have softened, he said.
"We have also taken some action in order to discourage the import of gold. But as we move ahead, we need to contain the balance of payments deficit," he said.
Besides gold, he said imports of coal and oil remained high, too.
"The other imports are also high. Coal imports are also high. When the domestic production was not picking up, it was substituted by imports of coal. And the other, oil import remains very high. One had expected that because of the slowdown in the economy of advanced countries, there would be some decline in oil prices, but it did not happen", he said.
Observing that the monsoon behaved better in August and September, he said agriculture production may not be affected as severe as expected this year.
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