SEZs out of gold import restrictions, govt clarifies

NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday clarified that the restrictions on imports of certain gold jewellery and articles, imposed earlier this week, are not applicable to Special Economic Zones (SEZ).

The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), had on Wednesday, notified that the import policy for unstudded jewellery made of gold, and other articles made of gold was amended to “restricted” from “free” except imports under the India-UAE free trade agreement.

“Accordingly, it is clarified that import made by SEZ units… are outside the purview of this Notification,” DGFT said in a notification Saturday.

India’s gold imports rose 82.38% on-year to about $5 billion in June. Gold imports into the country attract 15% duty.

The restrictions were imposed in light of a rise in imports from Indonesia under the India-ASEAN free trade agreement wherein some articles of gold were coming duty free and being melted in India to make jewellery.

In April-May FY24, India imported $112.09 million of these products of which $76.28 million came from Indonesia.