NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Finance Minister P. Chidambaram appealed to the population not to buy so much gold, speaking in a television interview a day after his 2013/14 budget surprised traders by keeping gold import duty unchanged at six percent.
But Chidambaram, who is trying to rein in imports by the world's biggest bullion buyer in order to curb a record current account deficit, told CNBC television on Friday the duty was not yet high enough to encourage smuggling.
Traders had expected a hike in duty to 8 percent in the budget.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Writing by Jo Winterbottom)