India imposes restrictions on the import of gold jewelry
Under the new rules, importers will now be required to obtain permission or a license from the government to bring certain gold items into the country.
The move comes as importers have been exploiting a political blunder over the past few months to buying plain gold jewelry from Indonesia without paying any import taxes, Reuters reported.
“Indonesia has never been a supplier of gold jewelry to India, but in the past few months, dealers have imported 3-4 tons of precious metals from Indonesia without paying any import taxes,” said a dealer from a private precious metals importing bank in Mumbai.
“Many dealers found out about this loophole and they also tried to find suppliers in Indonesia. The policy change closed that loophole,” he said.
India imposes a 15% tax on gold imports.