The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) amended the import policy for certain forms of silver including bars containing 99.9% or more by weight of the precious metal to “restricted” from “free” earlier, implying that their imports will now require a licence.
The government had increased customs duty on gold and silver imports to 10% from 5%, and agriculture infrastructure and development cess to 5% from 1%, taking the total effective import duty to 15% with effect from May 13.
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“The import policy of items covered… are revised from ‘free’ to ‘restricted’,” the DGFT said in a notification. India imported $4.24 billion of semi-manufactured silver in FY25.
Price Up 12% Since April
Of this, almost half came from the UK. Hong Kong and Australia were the next two sources of import. Silver prices have risen almost 12% since April 1. India’s silver imports surged 157.16% year-on-year to $411 million in April. Overall merchandise imports went up 10% on-year to $71.94 billion during the month.Also Read: Will petrol and diesel prices rise again?
“This was required as import duty has been raised to 15% and since these two codes were free to import, there was a chance of getting these under various free trade agreements at lesser duty,” said an industry representative, who did not wish to be identified.