Mumbai gold premiums slip - Nov imports could exceed 100 tns
By GCRU Gold News on Thursday, November 27 2014, 23:42 - Permalink
mports in November could be far higher than this year’s monthly average – imports in the first half of November were around 102 tonnes, Commerzbank said on Wednesday, citing reports from the Indian media. The country imported around 150 tonnes in October. - See more at: http://www.bulliondesk.com/gold-news/physicals-mumbai-gold-premiums-slip-but-nov-imports-could-exceed-100-tns-again-85778/#sthash.d6MiXC2o.dpuf
High imports could also reflect buying ahead of a possible tightening of import restrictions by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tackle the country’s ballooning current account deficit (CAD).
“People are both panicking and confused – they know that it is coming but they don’t know when,” one source told FastMarkets. “They see this as an opportunity to oversupply themselves ahead of the pick-up in demand in January and February.”
An announcement on changes to legislation could come as soon as next week, another source close to the matter said, although the RBI might first wait until import numbers for the whole of November are available.
As well, the country is in no rush to implement any new rules while both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RBI governor SS Mundra are out of the country and the slump in oil prices has eased some of the pressure on the CAD.
The new rules are more likely to involve caps on imports rather than raising the duty from the current 10 percent, sources suggested.
“They will cap the amount of gold that can be imported and how much each importer can bring in,” one said.
Mumbai gold premiums slip - Nov imports could exceed 100 tns