FY14 gold, silver imports down 40%: source

Gold and silver imports into India, the world's second-biggest buyer of the metal, dropped 40% to $33.46 billion in 2013/14, a trade ministry source said on Friday, following a series of restrictions imposed by the government to curtail the current account deficit.

However, the fall in gold and silver imports narrowed in March, registering a fall of 17.27% from a year earlier to $2.76 billion, the source, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed five more private banks to import the yellow metal, in what many saw it as a first significant step in easing of tough rules on imports.