look news india
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday banned the import of gold jewellery and its parts with immediate effect amid scrutiny of the abnormal rise in gold imports during the recent inter-departmental consultations. However, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an exception to this ban under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Official data has revealed that the jewelery imports in the year 2023-24 increased exceptionally by 30 times as compared to the previous financial year. That is, in the year 2022-23, this figure reached a remarkable increase of $ 155.1 million as against the imports of $ 5.2 million in the next year 2023-24. After this fact came to light, all the agencies including the government were shocked and action of ban has been taken.
Investigative agencies responsible for preventing smuggling have expressed concern over the increase in gold imports. Deep concern was expressed over increased activities especially from less developed countries (LDCs) and countries with FTAs with India. It has been found that imports from such countries have increased as importers have used low tariffs as a weapon. A government official said that the import of jewelery under the five Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) codes has not been banned and it has been kept under authority only to maintain the reason for the extraordinary increase in imports. Also, this action has been taken to keep an eye on the countries from which imports are being made. There has never been such a jump in imports in this category. Sudden abnormal growth has been observed. Traditionally, jewelery worth about $ 50 million to $ 1.5 billion is subject to investigation.
