India to invite fresh bids for import quotas for UAE gold

India's government said on Thursday it will invite fresh bids for quotas to import gold from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a concessional duty agreed under a trade pact between the two countries.

The quotas are for the import of 140 tons of gold from UAE in total in the financial year that started on April 1 with a duty that is one percentage point lower than India's standard 15% gold import duty, the government said in a statement.

India is the world's second-largest gold consumer and imports the bulk of its gold.

It signed a broad trade and investment pact with the UAE last May which aims to cut tariffs and effectively increase annual trade between the two nations to $100 billion within five years.

Under the agreement, over a period of five years, the quota to import gold at a lower duty from UAE will be raised to as much as 200 tons.