India’s Gold Imports May Fall as Price Damps Demand, Group Says

Gold imports in India, the world’s biggest consumer, may fall as much as 36 percent this year as higher prices and volatility slows demand, the Indian Bullion Market Association said.

Purchases may be about 350 tons to 400 metric tons in the year ending March 31, 2011, compared with about 550 tons a year earlier, the association’s President Anjani Sinha said yesterday in a phone interview in Mumbai. Imports are down by about half in the last three to four months, he said.