Govt slashes import tariff value on gold and silver
Amid tumbling gold price in the international market, the government on Friday cut import tariff value on the yellow metal to $354 per 10 grams and on silver to $470 per kg. The import tariff value is revised on fortnightly basis and is used to determine custom duty on inward shipments to prevent under-invoicing. In the previous fortnight, the import tariff value on gold was fixed at $373 per 10 grams and on silver was $517 per kg. Global gold and silver prices have been tumbling in recent month owing to a weak demand and reduced industrial applications. On Friday, gold prices in India was around Rs.26,000 per 10gm, while silver remained around Rs.34,400 per kg. Gold imports in September 2015 declined by 46% to $2.05 billion, from $3.783 billion in September 2014. Import was highest during August this year, when its inbound shipments surged to over 120 tonnes, up from 89 tonnes in July 2015. Earlier this month, the government unveiled three schemes- Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), Gold Sovereign Bond Scheme and Gold Coins – to extract gold from households and institutions, thus reduce India’s dependency on imports. Gold is India’s second largest imported item after petroleum products and has a direct impact on the country’s current account deficit. An increase in gold imports widens the country’s trade gap.
November 14, 2015 | 4:59pm IST.
to success.