New Delhi: Gold imports declined 26.39 percent to USD 1.81 billion in July due to restrictions imposed by the government on inbound shipments of the precious metal to narrow the current account deficit.
Imports of gold in July 2013 stood at USD 2.46 billion.
However, in June, gold imports were up by 65.13 percent to USD 3.12 billion.
After registering double digit growth in May and June, the country's exports expanded by 7.33 percent in July.
Current Account Deficit, which is the excess of foreign exchange outflows over inflows, touched a historic high of USD 88 billion, or 4.7 percent of GDP in 2012-13, mainly due to rising imports of gold and petroleum products.
In order to check the rising CAD, the government raised import duty on the yellow metal to 10 percent, while RBI imposed curbs on import of gold and also laid down various pre-conditions for inward shipments of the precious metal.
CAD came down to USD 32.4 billion or 1.7 percent of GDP in 2013-14.
In May, RBI had eased gold import norms by allowing select trading houses in addition to already permitted banks to procure the precious metal to boost exports.
A high CAD puts pressure on the rupee which in turn makes imports expensive and fuels inflation.
India is the largest importer of gold, which is mainly utilised to meet the demands of the jewellery industry.
The Commerce and Industry Ministry is pitching for easing of gold import restrictions to boost gems and jewellery exports, which declined 17.42 percent in July to USD 2.87 billion.
