Beijing: Last month, Narendra Modi asked citizens to postpone buying gold for at least a year. Instead, he should have called for a ramp-up in domestic production. India imported over 800 t in 2024, but produced only about 2 t. Wedding demand is not going away, so imports will remain a persistent drag on rupee.
Iron ore mining in India shows what's possible. Supreme Court mining bans in Goa and Karnataka in the 2010s were eventually lifted, and production surged, making India the world's 4th-largest iron ore producer, and the sector the backbone of its steel industry, now the 2nd-largest globally.
