India is planning to auction at least three gold mines in 2016, a top government official said, opening up the sector to private firms for the first time ever in a bid to slash imports of the metal that cost the government $36-billion last year.
Economically crippling shipments of up to 1 000 t of gold, accounting for about a quarter of India’s annual trade deficit, have already prompted the government to hike import duties and launch a scheme aimed at mobilising a pool of over 20 000 t of the metal lying idle in homes and temples.
