The Ministry said that customs duty on gold and silver has been reviewed periodically in the past two years and revised upwards as part of measures to contain the current account deficit.
NEW DELHI: India has hiked the customs duty on gold and silver jewellery from 10 to 15% to protect the interests of small artisans, according to Ministry of Finance.
The Ministry said that customs duty on gold and silver has been reviewed periodically in the past two years and revised upwards as part of measures to contain the current account deficit.
However, customs duty on gold, silver jewellery has not been changed in line with rise in import duty on precious metals and remained unchanged at 10% whereas duty on standard gold was raised form 2 to 10% in different stages in two years.
Jewellery making is a labour intensive industry. Millions of artisans are dependent on this sector for their livelihood. In the absence of any duty differential between articles of jewellery and primary metal, which was 8% in the case of gold jewellery and 4% in the case of silver jewellery in January 2012, 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.
To protect the interests of small artisans, the customs duty on articles of jewellery and of goldsmiths’ or silversmiths’ wares and parts thereof is being increased from 10% to 15%, the Ministry of Finance said.
courtesy of bullionstreet
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