India's July gold imports drop 24% as prices surge to record - government source

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's gold imports in July fell 24% from a year earlier as a rally in local prices to a record high curtailed retail purchases amid lockdown in many towns to curb the spread of the coronavirus, a government source said on Tuesday.

The world's second-biggest consumer of the precious metal imported around 30 tonnes of gold in July, down from 39.66 tonnes a year ago, the source said. The source asked to remain anonymous since he is not authorised to speak to the media.

In value terms, July imports edged up to $1.78 billion from $1.71 billion a year ago, he added.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)