“Gold was coming in the form of platinum alloy earlier, a loophole which was fixed but now platinum articles are coming. This measure seeks to address that,” said an industry expert, adding that such kind of imports would continue till the time import duty is high on gold.
India’s imports of articles of precious metal or of metal clad with precious metal almost doubled to $9.75 million in FY25 from FY24.
However, the government has allowed the re-imports of these goods of Indian origin that have been sent for exhibitions or export promotion tours, rejected or returned, or intended for repair.
Last year, the government imposed import restrictions on platinum alloy with less than 99% purity to curb illicit imports of this precious metal blended with significant amounts of gold to exploit the tariff differential between gold and platinum. The issue came up after India’s trade deal with the UAE which allowed unlimited imports of gold, silver, platinum, and diamonds from the UAE into India at zero tariffs. While gold can be imported from Dubai at 5% duty, the imports become duty-free if the alloy contains 2% platinum leading to a tariff differential.
In a separate notification on Thursday, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade also revised the import policy for umbrellas to “restricted” from “free” and imposed a minimum import price of Rs 100 per piece on umbrellas, a move which would help boost domestic manufacturing of the product.
“The import policy and policy condition of finished umbrellas…are revised from free to restricted. However, import shall be free if the CIF (cost, insurance, freight) value is Rs 100 and above per piece,” the DGFT said in a notification.Imported umbrellas by Advance Authorisation holders, EOUs, and SEZ shall be exempted from the MIP condition.
The government has increased import duty on umbrellas to Rs 60 per piece or 20%, whichever is higher in Budget FY27. On import of parts, trimmings and accessories, the duty was raised to 10% or Rs 25 per kg, whichever is higher.