A big spike in gold imports from countries with which India has trade agreements has caused alarm in the government, which now plans to exclude the yellow metal from such agreements in the future.
"Provisions of trade agreements have been abused to import gold at zero or lower duty," a government official said. The surge in gold imports has worsened the country’s current account deficit.
The issue has been discussed between the ministries of finance and commerce and industry, the nodal ministry for negotiating trade agreements, the official said.
The finance ministry is of the view that gold should be kept out of free-trade agreements India negotiates going ahead. The country is at present negotiating an FTA with the European Union, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a proposed FTA between Asean member states and six Asia-Pacific countries including India, China, and Japan. ...
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