Relief unlikely on gold imports

The government is unlikely to provide any relief when it comes to gold imports as the Arvind Mayaram, Finance Secretary ruled out easing restriction on gold imports in the near future.

The bullion industry has been seeking lowering of import duty and a relook into the 80:20 gold import scheme. The Finance Secretary further added that so far the 80:20 scheme had worked very well till now and there was no need for a relook at this point of time. In order to control the current account deficit (CAD), the previous UPA Government had raised import duty on gold to 10 per cent last year, while the Reserve Bank of India had stipulated that 20 per cent of gold imports must be exported. The permission to import the next lot was conditional on the fulfilment of the export obligation.

The Bullion industry has been seeking the ease of import duty as the industry feels that such duties are giving rise to smuggling, threat to jobs and revenue loss to the government.