GJEPC demands reduction in import duty on gold

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Jan 13, 2017

The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has urged the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to reduce the import duty on gold to around 5 per cent in the upcoming Union Budget as the current high import duty has hampered the export of jewellery.

"We are expecting the Finance Minister to reduce the import duty on gold to up to 5 per cent to boost the organised players in the country. Any duty on gold that is beyond 5 per cent encourages the grey market," GJEPC Chairman Praveen Shankar Pandya told a news agency.

He said a high import duty of 10 per cent has hampered the export of jewellery due to blockage of high amount of capital and has increased probability of trafficking of gold through parallel channels into the country.

"Due to spurious gold entering the country through smuggling, our exports will be termed as non-complaint under Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) rules of sourcing conflict free gold," he added.