National gold policy for India soon: Commerce Minister

The government will soon come up with a comprehensive gold policy to boost India's jewellery exports. The Centre's policy think-tank Niti Aayog has already set up a group to formulate such a policy framework.

The move comes in the wake of gems and jewellery exporters fearing India's exports may stagnate at $43 billion without the government intervention.

India is a net importer of gold and out of the total gold imported in India, only about 10% is exported. Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said he expected a sizeable increase in the export numbers and promised a policy review on gold soon.

"To achieve this target, a policy review will be taken very shortly where all industry concerns will be addressed," Prabhu said at the country's first-ever gold and jeweller summit here.

The two-day summit is being organised by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) along with the World Gold Council.  The industry has also sought the government to cut import duty on gold to 5% from the existing 10%. Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia too said the gold duty issue needs to be addressed. Country's gems and jewellery industry employs an estimated 20 lakh people.

"To take this sector to the next level of growth, we now need a policy that is conducive to the sustainable growth of the industry," Teaotia said at the summit, assuring the stakeholders of the government's support for structural policy reforms in the sector.