NEW DELHI/MUMBAI - India's gold imports plunged 99.9% year-on-year in April to their lowest in nearly three decades as air travel was banned and jewellery shops were closed amid a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, a government source said.

The world's second biggest consumer of the precious metal imported around 50 kilograms of gold in April, down from 110.18 tonnes a year ago, the source said on Monday, who is not authorised to speak to the media.

In value terms, April imports dropped to $2.84 million from to $3.97 billion a year ago, he added.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Rajendra Jadhav; editing by David Evans) ((rajendra.jadhav@thomsonreuters.com; +91-22-68414378 ; Reuters Messaging: rajendra.jadhav.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))