Unearth gold to lighten its import burden—there’s plenty of this metal waiting to be dug up in India

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s merchandise trade deficit was about $333 billion in 2025-26, 17.5% wider than the previous year’s. Reducing import dependence is critical and gold stands out as a major item in this context. As the world’s second-largest gold consumer, the country imported nearly 803 tonnes in 2024-25 but produced just 1.6 tonnes (0.2% of demand); last year’s figures would be comparable.

Local production is conspicuously tiny, given our vast geological potential. We have over 700 documented ancient gold sites and host Archaean greenstone belts, comparable to the Australia’s Yilgarn Craton, but have explored less than 10% of the obvious potential. With global gold prices above $4,400 per ounce and global exploration spending at $7.6 billion, capital is going elsewhere.

India’s share is negligible, even as we spend nearly $59 billion annually on gold imports. Endowment without an ecosystem: India is not short of gold. It is short of what translates a geological endowment into economic value.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) estimates the country’s ‘obvious geological potential’ at over 0.52 million sq km. When broader prospective terrain is included, this number climbs to nearly 2 million sq km. Yet, fewer than 10% of India’s documented ancient gold sites have seen a modern drill.

This is odd. Global mining leaders like Canada, Australia and the US built their strength through trusted resource reporting, exploration-focused capital markets and incentive-driven fiscal regimes. India must catch up.India’s mining policy can be judged by exits.