The Government of India has permitted Indian banks to import gold from the United Arab Emirates at concessional duty within a specified annual quantity under the free trade agreement between the two countries. India imports most of its gold requirements. The government has significantly liberalised norms for gold imports from the UAE under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to include both qualified jewellers and banks authorised by the Reserve Bank of India.
Indian importers can take 1% duty advantage to import up to 140 tonnes of gold from the UAE in 2023-24. The UAE offered India immediate zero duty market access for export of gold jewellery (the import duty was 5%) in exchange for tariff rate quota for gold, which was fixed at 110 tonnes in 2022-23 and 140 tonnes in 2023-24. Effectively, Indian importers can import UAE gold by paying 14% duty, instead of the prevalent rate of 15%. A 1% concessional duty import of gold made gold cheaper for value addition.
This is one of the major benefits of the free trade agreement, which helped India’s competitiveness in the sector. India and the UAE signed the agreement on February 18, 2022, which came into force on May 1, 2022.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished
