India's gold imports declined by 42 per cent in the quarter ending Dec 31, 2011, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). For the whole year, gold imports were down seven per cent in 2011. The imports are expected to fall further in the first quarter ending March 2012. Meanwhile, local demand is still not as strong as expected. Is this an alarming trend for the industry which is heavily dependent on the yellow metal? Kim Kumar of AOJ (with inputs from Mahua Chakrabarthy and Divya Vijayan) assesses the situation, talking to a cross section of professionals.
