India gold imports fall 81% in September after duty rise

India gold imports fell 81.27% in September from a year earlier, Commerce Ministry data released on Thursday showed, the second monthly drop in a row. The slump follows May's rise in import duty from 6% to 15%, which on our numbers adds about Rs 11,465 to the cost of bringing in 10 grams of 24-carat gold.

The timing matters for jewellers. Dhanteras is on 6 November and Diwali two days later, the weeks when festival gold buying in India usually picks up, and the trade numbers show far less metal coming in ahead of them.

Silver followed the same path, with September imports down 49.11% on the year. Across the first half of the financial year, April to September, gold imports were 27.32% lower at $19.27bn, news agency ANI reported.

What does 10 grams of gold cost in India now?

About Rs 1,50,893 for 24-carat, once duty and GST are added, on our estimate. We started from Friday's New York close of about $4,166 an ounce and a rate of Rs 95.10 to the dollar. IBJA's benchmark rates were not available for this note, and jewellers charge making fees on top.

The duty change alone lifts the landed cost by about 8.5%. That is more than twice the 3.7% fall in the dollar gold price since the start of the year, on our price data, so for an Indian buyer gold has become dearer in 2026 even as it got cheaper in New York.

Switzerland supplied about 40% of the gold India did import, according to The Hans India, with the UAE at over 16% and South Africa near 10%. Duty is one reason the Indian price sits apart from the world price; our guide to how gold premiums and discounts work covers the others.

Is smuggling filling the gap?

Seizures near the Bangladesh border suggest some of it is. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) took about 7.8 kg of foreign-origin gold worth more than Rs 11.5 crore in two operations on 8 and 9 October and arrested six people, The Hans India reported.

Most of that haul, 50 bars of about 6.8 kg, was being carried from Banpur, close to the border, towards Kolkata. Officers found roughly another kilogram on passengers getting off trains at Malda Town and New Jalpaiguri.

Earlier the same week, on 5 October, the DRI seized about 8.3 kg worth roughly Rs 12.37 crore in Cooch Behar district and arrested four. That puts the value of that consignment at around Rs 1,49,000 per 10 grams, close to our duty-paid estimate. Together the two cases add up to about 16 kg in one week.

The government has also asked buyers to wait. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to put off gold purchases because of the West Asia crisis, ANI reported.

What to watch

• 6 Nov: Dhanteras, the first real test of festival buying at the 15% duty
• 8 Nov: Diwali (Lakshmi Puja), the close of the main festival buying window