In the calendar year 2021, exports of gold jewellery grew by 50% to USD 8807.50 million as compared to USD 5876.39 million in 2020, as per data released by GJEPC.

The industry is witnessing a surge in exports and domestic sales of gold jewellery (plain and studded), post the pandemic.

Table - 1. Exports of gold Jewellery (US$ million)

According to Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC, “We are witnessing correction in import/export of gold that was affected due to the pandemic. During 2020, due to the restrictions in key sourcing countries for gold imports, there was a shortage of yellow metal supplied to India which resulted in de-stocking by the country's jewellery manufacturers. In 2021, as restrictions eased across various countries, the disrupted supply of gold was corrected and jewellery manufacturers in India could replenish their exhausted stock.”

On the other hand, for the calendar year 2021, India imported 1,067.72 tonnes of gold, as compared to 430.11 tonnes in 2020.

Shah added, “1067 tonnes of gold import in 2021 can be attributed to the abnormal pandemic situation a year prior when imports had nosedived to 430.11 tonnes. The past decade has seen India's gold imports come close to the year-prior figure. For instance, the quantity of gold imported in 2021 is comparable to gold imports of 1047 tonnes in 2015 and 1032 tonnes in 2017.”

Monthly import of gold

India’s average monthly gold imports during April 2021-February 2022 stood at 76.57 tonnes, which is relatively at par with the average gold imports of 79.73 tonnes in April 2017-February 2018, 80.86 tonnes in April 2018-February 2019 and 62.88 tonnes in April 2019-February 2020.

The total volume of gold imported in April 2021-February 2022 stood at 842.28 tonnes, which is below the usual imports in the same period i.e. ranging from 690 to 890 tonnes.

The average gold import during April 2021-February 2022 is valued at $4.095 billion, which is relatively higher than the average gold imports in the previous years, mainly on account of the rise in gold prices in the previous year and the unfavourable exchange rate.

Overall, there isn’t much deviation in the gold imported in January and February 2022 from the average imports of gold in quantity and value terms during the same period in the previous three normal years from 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.