Centre imposes ‘import restrictions’ on certain gold jewellery, articles

The Centre has imposed import restrictions on certain gold jewellery and articles to help slash the import of non-essential items.

In these new restrictions, an importer would need permission of a license from the government for importing these gold products.

However, the restriction will not be there for imports under the India-UAE free trade agreement, said the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT).

This move comes as importers in the past few months have been using a policy flaw to source gold jewellery from Indonesia without paying import taxes.

The DGFT said in a notification that the import policy of these products has been amended from free to restricted with immediate effect.

Current Data

During April-May, the imports of pearls, precious and semi-precious stones dropped by 25.36 per cent to about $4.7 billion in the same time.

Taking notes of the overall merchandise imports, it has witnessed a major decline of 10.24 per cent to USD 107 billion. The merchandise trade deficit for April-May 2023 stood at USD 37.26 billion against USD 40.48 billion during April-May 2022.

Moreover, the import of gold stood at over $110 million in April-May this fiscal and it was imported from countries like UAE, Indonesia and the US.