From the Press Trust of India
via MoneyControl.com, Mumbai
Thursday, December 27, 2018
The government is working on an integrated gold policy, which is expected
to be released soon, to promote growth of the yellow metal industry and
exports of jewellery, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
"We are pushing for it as we need an integrated policy. In the next
few days we will have a meeting of all concerned people to frame the policy
on an expeditious basis. We are looking at all elements of gold in the
policy," Prabhu told PTI.
When asked whether the policy will consider the demand of the industry to cut
the import duty on gold, he said: "It will also look at that side of
it."
The domestic industry has demanded a cut in the import duty on gold to 4
percent from the current 10 percent.
The minister said that there is no such policy though India is the largest
consumer and importer of gold.
India has the potential to become a "good exporter of value-added
gold," he added.
The policy is likely to focus on promoting the domestic gold industry and
exports of gems and jewellery, which contribute about 15 percent to total
merchandise exports.
In February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced formulation of a
comprehensive gold policy to develop gold as an asset class.
Government think-tank Niti Aayog in August suggested that the government
to bring down the import duty on gold from 10 percent and asked to slash the
goods-and-services tax rate on the precious metal from the current 3 percent.
The think-tank also recommended reviewing and revamping the gold
monetization and the sovereign gold bond schemes, besides setting up a gold
board and bullion exchanges across the country to have greater
financialization of the yellow metal. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/pol...licy-likely-...
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