The Centre on Wednesday said that gold imported by the Reserve Bank of India will be exempted from import duty and Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess(AIDC).
Generally, the import of gold attracts 15% import duty, including 5% of AIDC.
In January the centre raised import duty on gold and silver findings and coins of precious metals to 15%, from 11%.
This was done to end tax advantage in importing gold and silver in findings form than in bars.
India is the world’s second-biggest consumer of gold, depending almost entirely on imports.
Based on the latest data till January 2024, gold imports stood at $1.9 billion in the last month, bringing the cumulative imports to $37.85 billion from April-January in FY24.