India, the world's largest buyer of vegetable oils, imported 61,544 tonnes of refined palm oil in October, according to trade data released on Thursday, a decline of 45 percent from 111,163 tonnes in September.

Total vegetable oil imports in October were 1,036,107 tonnes, up from 993,912 tonnes in the previous month, the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said in a statement.

Refined palm oil imports fell on fading festive season demand, while the increase in the cost of imports due to a duty hike supported the lower monthly imports, said Naveen Garg, a Delhi-based trade analyst.

A Reuters survey had forecast average vegetable oil imports of 923,125 tonnes in October, with 65,625 tonnes of refined palm oils.

India's refined palm oil imports rose 46 percent to 1.6 million tonnes in the marketing year 2011/12 after top producer Indonesia changed its tax structure in October last year in an attempt to promote its processing industries.

The surge in palm oil imports boosted total vegetable oil imports 17.2 percent to 10.2 million tonnes in the year to October.

India buys mainly palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia. It also imports a small quantity of soyoil from Brazil and Argentina.