NEW DELHI: Leading gold buyer India may clamp fresh controls soon on soaring imports of the precious metal that have widened the country’s trade deficit, a report said on Tuesday.

Gold imports in October leapt to $4.17bn from $1.09bn in the year-ago period, trade figures Monday showed.

“Things are being worked out by the finance ministry and some announcements (restrictions) may come in a day or two,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted a source as saying.

Indians have been flocking to buy the yellow metal for weddings and the Hindu festival season when it is seen as an auspicious time to purchase gold.

The buying spree vaulted the country back into the number-one gold consumer spot globally during the last financial quarter after India fell to second-place behind China.

Published in Dawn, November 19th , 2014