Unquenchable Thirst for Gold: India's Gold Problem

Imports of gold into India have been a drag on the rate of economic development of the country for the last few centuries, India is a poor producer of gold and gold in India has been an imported or foreign commodity, a fact that had not been understood neither by the propenents of the old Swadeshi Movement nor the present day Swadeshi Manch. (Gold imports absorb a significant part of the meagre savings of a poor country in an unproductive way and also lead to increased foreign indebtedness. A statistical exercise for the period 1873-98 shows that if during that period India had refrained from importing gold the rate of increase of GDP would have been significantly higher and foreign indebetedness of India significantly lower than what it was. Indian demand for gold is mainly for making arnament to wear and seems to be deeply embedded in Indian culture. It is very difficult to control. A ban on gold imports by Government is largely ignored as the history of the period 1947-91 shows. It only encourages smuggling. During 1981-1990 smuggled gold into India accounted for the loss of S 14 billion in foreign exchange. If gold had not been imported during this period, there would have been no foreign exchange crisis in 1991 and no need would have arisen for borrowing $ 3-4 billion from the World Bank. The gold imports seem to serve as a glittering border to our poverty, a cultural cost which makes our fight against poverty so handicapped.