The government has restricted the import of certain categories of silver bars with immediate effect amid the ongoing West Asia conflict, according to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
Under the revised import policy notified by the Commerce Ministry, silver bars with 99.9 per cent purity have been moved from the “Free” category to the “Restricted” category. Other specified silver bars have also been shifted to the restricted import category.
The move aims to strengthen monitoring and regulation of silver imports into the country. The notification said that the revised silver import rules have come into force with immediate effect.
The government had significantly increased the import duty on precious metals and also imposed a 100 kg limit on gold imports under the Advance Authorisation scheme. The scheme allows jewellery exporters to import raw materials or input materials at zero duty.
The government has also tightened the conditions for issuing and monitoring advance authorisation for gold imports. Earlier, there was no import limit on gold under the scheme.
The government has also sharply hiked the import duty on gold and silver to 15 per cent to discourage purchase and trim non-essential imports in the backdrop of a ballooning import bill amid the West Asia crisis.
Effective May 13, import duty on gold and silver has been increased to 15 per cent from 6 per cent, and that on platinum has been raised to 15.4 per cent from 6.4 per cent. Consequential changes have also been made to other items such as gold/silver dore, coins, findings, etc.
The moves came within days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for curbs on gold purchases, along with other austerity measures to reduce avoidable foreign exchange expenditure.