MUMBAI: Despite the World Gold Council's projection of a dip in consumer demand for the precious metal this fiscal on the back of rising prices and record imports last fiscal, a foreign brokerage report has suggested that the demand may rise more than generally projected as households may snap up the metal as a hedge against spiralling inflation.
Gold imports rose 33.34 per cent to $46.14 billion in FY22 to 837 tonnes or 1.5 times above the pandemic low in FY21 and 12 per cent more than the pre-pandemic average of FY16-20, leading to a higher current account deficit that's seen at 3 per cent of GDP, government data showed last month.
