India is likely to import about 400 tonnes of gold this year, about the same as 2008, but high prices are keeping demand low for the time being, the vice-president of the Bombay Bullion Association said on Monday. "Whatever it is, there will be basic imports of 400 tonnes in any year," Harmesh Arora told Reuters in an interview, when asked about the outlook for India's gold imports in 2009. Spot gold was trading at $981.15 an ounce at 0829 GMT but on Friday it hit $1,005.40, just 2.5 percent below the record $1,030.80 touched in March last year. The increase in prices has crushed import demand in India, the world's biggest consumer of gold, where the local price has risen further because of the rupee's depreciation against the dollar. "In India, there is very slow demand. There are no imports. Whatever demand is there is being met via recycling," Arora said. Total stocks of the precious metal held by Indians stood at about 20,000 tonnes but only small investors were selling gold, Arora said. "The big investors are very bullish. They are not selling. So it is only a limited quantity that has come out. Small investors are taking profits as these are ... rates they have never seen before," he said.

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