<p>With spiralling gold imports putting huge pressure on the current account deficit, government tonight hiked the import duty on the metal to 8 per cent, up by 2 per cent, in a bid to rein in demand.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The import duty on gold has been increased from 6 per cent to 8 per cent," Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose told PTI.<br /><br />The import duty on another precious metal platinum too has been increased to 8 per cent from 6 per cent.<br /><br />The Finance Ministry has issued two notifications announcing "raising basic customs duty on gold and platinum from 6 per cent to 8 per cent and certain consequential changes immediate effect from June 5, 2013".<br /><br />This is the second hike in the duty in six months as gold imports touched an alarming 162 tonnes in May. The imports touched a staggering figure of USD 15 billion in the last two months.<br /><br />The hike is aimed at curbing import of gold which is mainly responsible for rise in CAD impacting on the country's foreign exchange reserves as well as the rupee value.<br /><br />The CAD, which is a difference between inflow and outflow of foreign currency, touched a historic high of 6.7 of GDP in the quarter ending December 2012. It is likely to have reached in the range of 5 per cent during 2012-13, much above the RBI's comfort level of 2.5 per cent.<br /><br />Worried over the deteriorating CAD position, the government had in January increased the import duty on gold from 4 per cent to 6 per cent.<br /><br />The Finance Ministry's action to raise duty follows curbs announced by the Reserve Bank on import of gold by banks as well as other entities.<br /><br />The additional import duty on gold ores and concentrates for use in the manufacture of gold has also been increased to 6 per cent from 2 per cent and on gold dore bar (gold content not exceeding 95 per cent) to 6 per cent.</p>
<p>With spiralling gold imports putting huge pressure on the current account deficit, government tonight hiked the import duty on the metal to 8 per cent, up by 2 per cent, in a bid to rein in demand.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The import duty on gold has been increased from 6 per cent to 8 per cent," Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose told PTI.<br /><br />The import duty on another precious metal platinum too has been increased to 8 per cent from 6 per cent.<br /><br />The Finance Ministry has issued two notifications announcing "raising basic customs duty on gold and platinum from 6 per cent to 8 per cent and certain consequential changes immediate effect from June 5, 2013".<br /><br />This is the second hike in the duty in six months as gold imports touched an alarming 162 tonnes in May. The imports touched a staggering figure of USD 15 billion in the last two months.<br /><br />The hike is aimed at curbing import of gold which is mainly responsible for rise in CAD impacting on the country's foreign exchange reserves as well as the rupee value.<br /><br />The CAD, which is a difference between inflow and outflow of foreign currency, touched a historic high of 6.7 of GDP in the quarter ending December 2012. It is likely to have reached in the range of 5 per cent during 2012-13, much above the RBI's comfort level of 2.5 per cent.<br /><br />Worried over the deteriorating CAD position, the government had in January increased the import duty on gold from 4 per cent to 6 per cent.<br /><br />The Finance Ministry's action to raise duty follows curbs announced by the Reserve Bank on import of gold by banks as well as other entities.<br /><br />The additional import duty on gold ores and concentrates for use in the manufacture of gold has also been increased to 6 per cent from 2 per cent and on gold dore bar (gold content not exceeding 95 per cent) to 6 per cent.</p>