Gold and silver imports plunged 40 per cent, year-on-year, to 33.5 billion dollars in 2013-14, mainly due to restrictions imposed by the government on inbound shipments of the precious metals to narrow the current account deficit. Gold and silver imports in March fell 17.3 per cent, to 2.8 billion dollars. India's current account deficit, which is the excess of foreign exchange outflows over inflows, had touched a historic high of 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2012-13, mainly due to rising imports of petroleum products and gold.