Gold imports surge by 62.2% in July

India's gold demand in the second half of 2015 could rise by more than a quarter from a year before as lower prices encourage buying during the peak festival season towards the year-end, WGC said on Thursday.

Gold imports shot up by 62.2% to US$2.96bn last month as against US$1.82bn in July 2014. In June this year, gold imports had slumped by 37% to US$1.96bn.

Higher gold imports in July pushed India's trade deficit to an eight month high of US$12.81bn.

India's gold demand in the second half of 2015 could rise by more than a quarter from a year before as lower prices encourage buying during the peak festival season towards the year-end, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

In the first half of 2015, gold demand from India fell 7% from a year before to 346.2 tonnes, led by a 19% drop in investment demand, WGC data showed.

According to WGC estimates, total Indian gold demand in 2015 would rise by ~11% to about 900 tonnes.