Duty hike on gold, silver and platinum
The government on Tuesday raised customs duties on gold and platinum by two per cent, and on silver by four per cent in an attempt to bring down the current account deficit. This is the third increase in duties on the yellow metal in eight months.
The government told Parliament that customs and other formulations have been alerted to keep vigil against gold smuggling. Minister of state for finance J.D. Seelam told the Rajya Sabha it was feared that a duty hike could lead to a rise in smuggling of gold or gold jewellery.
Revenue secretary Sumit Bose said, meanwhile, that the government was still working on raising import duties on non-essential goods.
Mr Bose said the basic purpose of enhancing duty was to curb the import of gold.
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