Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the government is considering several steps to contain the widening current account deficit (CAD) amid a weakening rupee and widening trade deficit.
India's CAD rose to USD 13.2 billion, or 1.3 per cent of GDP, in the December quarter from USD 11.3 billion in the year-ago period, mainly due to a wider trade gap caused by a decline in exports to the US, according to RBI data released on March 2. However, the CAD moderated to USD 30.1 billion (1 per cent of GDP) in April-December 2025 from USD 36.6 billion (1.3 per cent of GDP) in the same period a year ago.
CAD occurs when the value of goods and services imported and other payments exceeds the value of export of goods and services and other receipts by a country in a particular period. "We are monitoring the situation. All the various arms of the government are working as a team. Several steps are under consideration. The situation globally is quite challenging but we have the confidence and courage of conviction that we will come out winners even in this challenging time," Goyal told reporters here.
He was replying to a question that with the rupee sliding, what more measures the government can take to contain the widening CAD. Increasing imports of gold and silver are contributing to the widening trade deficit and CAD. Gold imports rose 24 per cent to hit an all-time high of USD 71.98 billion in 2025-26. In volume terms, however, the imports dipped 4.76 per cent to 721.03 tonnes. In April, imports surged 81.69 per cent year-on-year to USD 5.62 billion, driven by high prices.
Similarly, silver imports jumped about 150 per cent to USD 12 billion in the last fiscal. In volume terms also, it rose by 42 per cent to 7,334.96 tonnes in 2025-26. The rise in imports of these precious metals in April has pushed the country's trade deficit (difference between imports and exports) to a three-month high of USD 28.38 billion.
Prices of the yellow metal are hovering around Rs 1,56,000 per 10 grams (inclusive of all taxes) in the national capital. Silver was priced at around Rs 2.53 lakh per kg. To discourage imports of these precious metals and contain dollar outflow, the government has significantly increased import duty to 15 per cent from 6 per cent earlier. With the 3 per cent IGST, the effective duty is 18.45 per cent.
The government has also imposed a limit of 100 kg on gold imports under the Advance Authorisation scheme, which allows jewellery exporters to import raw or input materials at zero duty. Measures like issuing Quality Control Orders (QCOs) on products also help in discouraging imports.