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Informist, Tuesday, Jul 23, 2024

--BUDGET: To cut customs on gold, silver to 6%

--BUDGET: Customs duty on platinum to be cut to 6.4%

MUMBAI – The government has reduced the customs duty on gold and silver to 6%, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today while presenting the Budget for 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) to the Lok Sabha. The customs duty on platinum has been reduced to 6.4%.

"To enhance domestic value addition in gold and precious metal jewellery in the country, I propose to reduce customs duties on gold and silver to 6% and that on platinum to 6.4%," Sitharaman said. The 6% import duty on gold and silver includes 5% of basic customs duty, down from 10% earlier, and 1% of agriculture infrastructure and development cess, down from 5% earlier.

The government has cut the basic customs duty on platinum to 5% from 10% earlier and the agriculture infrastructure and development cess to 1.4% from 5.4% earlier, according to the budget document. Import duty on gold and silver dore has been cut to 5.35% from 14.35% earlier, which comprises 5% basic customs duty and 0.35% agriculture infrastructure and development cess.

This was one of the long-standing demands of the industry and the announcement, especially at a time when the industry is already grappling with various challenges, will certainly help the "industry to march on the path to progress", Colin Shah, managing director, Kama Jewelery, said in a note. "This will play a major role in bringing down the cases of smuggling and provide cost benefits to the consumers in the country, which will provide a major fillip to the demand in the domestic market," he said.

Trade data released by the commerce ministry last week showed the value of gold imports fell 38.7% on year to $3.06 bln in June, from $5 bln a year ago. India, the second-largest importer of gold after China, imported 734.3 tn of gold in 2023, up 3% from 2022.  End

US$1 = 83.68 rupees

Reported by J. Navya Sruthi

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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