India's gold imports are likely to jump by a third in 2017 to 750 tonnes on restocking by jewellers and as good monsoon rainfall is expected to boost demand in rural areas during the upcoming festive season, a leading refiner told Reuters.

India, which vies with China as the top consumer of bullion, is working on new policies to improve transparency and help expand its $19 billion gold jewelry industry, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The plans being worked out by the finance and commerce ministries along with industry groups should be finalized by the end of March, the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. D.S. Malik, spokesman for the finance ministry, didn’t answer calls to his cellphone, while a spokeswoman for the commerce ministry didn’t reply to an email seeking comment.

The start of a spot bullion exchange, to make gold supply more transparent and help enforce purity standards, is under consideration, the people said. An import tax of 10 percent could also be reduced as the government seeks to eliminate smuggling, they said. The plans also include a dedicated bank for the jewelry industry, according to one of the people.

On 1st July, India’s labyrinth of taxes will be replaced with a simple, nationwide Goods & Services Tax (GST). This is the biggest fiscal reform since India’s liberalisation in the early 1990s. While gold consumers will face a slightly higher tax rate, and the industry will go through a period of adjustment, we see the net impact on the gold industry as being positive. The gold supply chain should become more transparent and efficient, and the tax reform can boost economic growth, which we see as supporting gold demand.

India’s hunger for gold is not surprising—people have been complaining about the “drain of gold” into India for ages, starting with Pliny the Elder, the Roman writer of the 1st century AD. But where in India does the gold go to? And who are the people who buy all this gold jewellery?

The short answer to the first question is, in one word: Kerala.

India's gold imports in April more than doubled from a year ago to 75 tonnes on strong demand during a festival that prompts purchases and as jewellers stocked up ahead of a new national sales tax, provisional data from consultancy GFMS showed.

How come a country with an insatiable demand for the yellow metal has little say in the global market? With the right policy, India can become a dominant player - See more at: http://www.governancenow.com/views/columns/why-india-needs-a-bullion-bank-gold-monetisation-scheme-banking#sthash.4oSEwWoy.9mJScviN.dpuf

Demonetisation of high denomination currency had checked gold smuggling for a few months as the domestic and cross-border unaccounted cash flow through informal (hawala) networks had been choked.

Data says, around 120 tonnes of gold was smuggled in India in 2016. Bullion traders fears that this year the quantity of smuggled gold could go up.

Facing much difficulty in import of dore, the term for unrefined gold, India's only refinery with LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) accreditation, MMTC Pamp, has diverted its focus on domestic jewellery scrap collection, to meet its raw material needs.

A joint venture between government-owned MMTC and Switzerland-based Pamp SA, the world’s leading bullion refiner, it has set up 10 scrap collection centres across major cities. These have testing machines and other equipment needed for checking purity of gold content in used jewellery. With these, it has recovered three tonnes of gold through scrap jewellery so far this financial year.

A barrage of policy initiatives aimed at purging India of black money and instilling greater transparency rocked India’s economy last year, including its gold market. The most dramatic was the radical decision to demonetise over 15 trillion rupees, around US$220bn. Other policies – such as the re-introduction of excise duty – affected the gold market, too. And the forthcoming Goods & Service Tax (GST) will change the shape of the industry. India’s gold market faces some short-term headwinds. But looking ahead, these policies may deliver a stronger economy and a more transparent gold industry, underpinning gold demand, which we expect to be between 650-750t in 2017.