A day after increasing customs duty on gold and silver, the government has taken further steps to curb gold imports. On Thursday, the government imposed a 100 kg cap on gold imports under the Advance Authorisation (AA) scheme, which allows jewellery exporters to import raw materials duty-free.
The government has also tightened conditions for the issuance and monitoring of advance authorisations for gold imports. Earlier, there was no limit on gold imports under the scheme.
The Advance Authorisation scheme allows duty-free import of inputs used in export products. In addition to raw materials, packaging material, fuel, oil and catalysts consumed in the production process are also permitted under the scheme.
“AA for import of gold shall be issued, subject to a maximum permissible quantity of 100 kilograms,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a public notice.
It added that applications from first-time applicants seeking advance authorisation for gold imports will now require mandatory physical inspection of manufacturing facilities to verify the existence, capacity and operational status of the unit.
“Any subsequent AA for the import of gold shall be considered for issuance only upon fulfilment of at least 50% of the export obligation,” the notification said.
The AA holder will also have to submit a fortnightly performance report, duly certified by an independent chartered accountant, detailing gold imports and exports undertaken.
Further, the concerned regional authority of the directorate will submit a monthly report to the DGFT containing details regarding the issuance of advance authorisations.
Effective May 13, import duty on gold and silver has been increased to 15% from 6%, while duty on platinum has been raised to 15.4% from 6.4%. Consequential changes have also been made to duties on items such as gold and silver dore, coins and findings.
Gold and silver imports rose 26.7% year-on-year to $102.5 billion in FY26, with their share in India’s total imports increasing to 14% from 11.8% in FY25.
The duty hike came within days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for curbs on gold purchases and advocating austerity measures to reduce avoidable foreign exchange expenditure.