More Stories

Informist, Saturday, May 16, 2026

--Govt imposes restrictions on silver imports
 

NEW DELHI – The government Saturday imposed curbs on silver imports, in the latest move to cut down on demand for precious metals to ease the pressure on the rupee and foreign exchange reserves. The curbs comes after silver imports jumped 157% year-on-year in April to $411 million.

Imports of silver bars, including those containing 99.9% or more by weight of silver, are now restricted, the Director General of Foreign Trade said in a notification. The latest import curbs comes days after the government raised import duties on gold and silver to 15% from 6% to protect the currency from higher energy prices.

On Thursday, the government capped the limit of duty-free gold imports for jewellery exports at 100 kilograms per licence. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged Indians to reduce fuel consumption, avoid non-essential gold purchases, and cut down on foreign travel to reduce India's import bill and save foreign exchange.

The rupee has depreciated over 5% against the dollar since the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on Feb. 28. It hit a record low of 96.14 against the dollar on Friday, dropping below the 96 per dollar mark for the first time.  End

US$1 = INR 95.97

Reported by Shubham Rana

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.