Industry Odisha Bureau, May 15: In sequel to the duty hike levied on imports of precious metals (gold, silver and platinum) from 9.18 per cent to 18.45 per cent effected from Wednesday in a bid to reportedly conserve forex, widening import bill, worsening current account deficit (CAD) and arresting the further depreciation of Indian rupee, Government of India (GoI) reportedly imposed both stricter monitoring and permissible quantity limits on gold imports effected from the Thursday.
As per media reports, the GoI has initiated such a move on gold imports taking into account the “sharp surge in India’s gold import bill that has exerted pressure on the domestic currency.”
Reportedly, the notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has underlined that, “Advance Authorisation (AA) shall be issued for import of gold subject to a maximum limit of 100 kgs.”
It has also been reported that GoI has taken such stricter monitoring measures soon after the duty hike in gold imports apprehending “blatant misuse of the AA scheme to import large quantities of gold and take undue advantage of price arbitrage.”
Notably, there was “no limit on gold imports under the AA scheme that permitted duty-free import of gold for export purposes,” media reports claimed.
In pursuance of the DGFT’s latest notification, it has reportedly been elucidated that, besides the “cap of 100 kgs per authorisation”, there shall also be “physical inspection of manufacturing facilities shall be undertaken for the first-time applicants”, “completion of at least 50 per cent export obligation under previous licenses before fresh authorisations are issued”, “stricter monitoring through fortnightly import-export reports by permit holders”, and last but not the least, “submission of monthly consolidated reports by the regional authorities to the DGFT headquarters.”
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