For the 4th time this year, Indian government has hiked import duty on gold and silver jewellery.
New Delhi, Sept 18/Nationalturk – The yellow metal in India will be costlier now as Indian government has hiked import duty on gold and silver jewellery from 10 to 15 per cent.
An Indian Finance ministry official said import duty on gold and silver jewelry to country has been increased from present 10 per cent to 15 percent.
“The government measure will help protect the interests of domestic industry,” he said.
He said import duty differential between jewellery and the primary metal is needed to protect millions of artisans, who depend on the labour-intensive industry after the duty on gold was increased in stages to 10 per cent on August 13.
“In the absence of any duty differential, there is an apprehension that Indian jewellery makers would not be able to compete with cheaper imports, particularly when majority of the imported jewellery is machine-made as compared to handmade jewellery in India,” he said.
This was the fourth time that Indian government has raised import duty on gold this year. Earlier, Indian government had increased custom duty on gold, silver jewelery from 8 percent to 10 per cent in August this year.
India imports maximum jewellery from Thailand
India imports maximum jewellery from Thailand. India also imports golden jewellery from Italy, Turkey, Dubai, Thailand, Hong Kong and United States.
Between April and July 2013, India imported gold jewellery worth $137.57 million as against $2.9 billion of bullion imports in July. High gold imports strained India’s current account deficit, which touched a high of 4.8 per cent of GDP in the 2012-13.
Experts said the move, which is meant to protect the domestic industry, would make ornaments more expensive for consumers.
“The move is also aimed at plugging the rise in import of gold jewellery from Thailand and Dubai. It will support the manufacturing sector in India,” they said.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk India News
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