No plans to reintroduce gold import curbs: Govt

Inflow down in December month-on-month; jewellers demand cut in Customs duty rates

The government on Wednesday ruled out restoring of curbs on gold import, even as jewellers pressed for cutting Customs duties. After a recent spurt for three months, imports slumped in December and in the early days of January.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with representatives of the gems and jewellery sector in New Delhi on Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said the government was not planning to impose any further curbs on gold imports, as the current account deficit (CAD) was under control.  The meeting was a follow-up of last month’s ‘Make in India’ workshop. Gems and jewellery are one among the 25 identified sectors for the Make in India campaign.  Kher said there were no plans to bring back restrictions such as the 80:20 scheme. “The 80:20 scheme is gone. Why should it come back? We are not looking at any new policy (for gold imports).”

Jewellers have urged the government to cut import duty, at 10 per cent now. According to jewellers, the high duty rate hurts the growth of the jewellery sector and the availability of gold.

Kher said the issue of rationalisation of duty drawback scheme for the jewellery sector would be looked into. Jewellers were asked to explore the promotion of lower caratage gold and fashion jewellery.

Kher said the inward shipments of the metal slumped in December 2014 to 39 tonnes. So far in January, seven tonnes of gold were imported, he added.

“Gold imports at present on the basis of December and January performance have not been a cause of worry,” he said.

India had imported a whopping 152 tonnes of gold in November 2014, which had threatened to disrupt the trade balance and impact CAD.

In September and October last year, the imports were 95.62 tonnes and 109 tonnes, respectively. Higher gold imports in November 2014 also pushed up trade deficit to one-and-a-half year high of $16.86 billion against $9.57 billion in the same month last year. CAD, too, had widened to $10.1 billion or 2.1 per cent of the GDP in the July-September quarter of FY15, against 1.7 per cent in the previous quarter and 1.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2013-14.