Unfazed by a spurt in gold import last month, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the inward shipment of the precious metal will remain severely compressed in the current fiscal year (FY14).
Gold imports rose to 23.5 tonnes in October from 11.164 tonnes in September.
"I am not worried of imports of about 23.5 tonnes. Hope it remains at a level of about 20 tonnes a month in which event at the end of the year gold imports would have been severely compressed and that would be a very good sign for the current account deficit," he told reporters.
Gold imports in July and August stood at 47.75 tonnes and 3.38 tonnes, respectively. The imports stood at 845 tonnes in fiscal year 2012-13 (FY13).
Mr Chidambaram said with the decline in gold import and improvement in exports, the current account deficit in FY14 would be contained at $60 billion, lower than $88.2 billion in the previous fiscal year (FY13).
High gold imports was one of the main reasons that pushed current account deficit - the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange - to a record high of 4.8 per cent of GDP, or $88.2 billion, in the previous financial year.
The government has hiked import duty on gold to 10 per cent in third revision this year in a bid to curb the surging imports and a burgeoning current account deficit.
The current account deficit was at $21.8 billion or 4.9 per cent of GDP for April-June.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
