NITI Aayog plans to identify gold-bearing regions in India to boost gold production in the country. With private participation amid a surge in imports of the yellow metal and a rise in its prices, the center will soon lay out a detailed roadmap to boost production.

According to Economic Times, the plan is to identify the gold-bearing regions and develop those regions by 2030. The policy interventions need to be attractive to attract private investment into gold mining, the report quoted a senior official.

Niti Aayog has conducted an extensive study to identify the potential gold mines in the country and proposed a pan-India exploration program over the next 10 years.

The recommendations of the study reportedly include providing incentives to small explorers to take up mining gold in India.

The gold exports of India rose 33.41percent to USD 46.16 billion during 2021-2022 from USD 34.6 billion in the previous year, the key reason behind this is the widening of the trade deficit to USD 192.41billon last fiscal from USD 102.62 billion in FY21. Gold is among the 102 priority items that the commerce department has identified whose imports are high and need domestic interventions for domestic production opportunities.

Gold accounts for 7.53 percent of India’s total inbound shipments in FY22. In April-July, gold imports rose 6.39 percent year on year.

Hutti Gold Mine which is the only gold mining company in India has produced some 84 tonnes of gold since 1947. It is located in Raichur in the district of Karnataka.

As per National Mineral Inventory data, the total gold ore reserves in the country have been estimated to be 501.83 million tonnes. The largest resources of primary gold are located in Bihar which is 44 percent followed by Rajasthan at 25 percent, Karnataka at 21 percent, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh at 3 percent, and Jharkhand at 2 percent.

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