Page 5 - Bullion World Volume 03 Issue 07 July 2022

Bullion World | Volume 2 | Issue 07 | July 2022

EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

Government of India, as a measure to curb gold imports amidst
widening trade deficit, has increased the basic import duty on
the gold from 7.5 % to 12.5% with effect from 1st July, 2022.
Together with agricultural cess of 2.5% and GST of 3%, total tax
on gold for end-customer would be 18%.

The move to disincentivize gold imports has come at the mo-
ment when gold import bill witnessed a steep surge and had
started exerting pressure on INR/USD. Gold import bill surged
from USD 22 billion in 2020 to USD 55.7 billion in 2021. Gold
imports for the first two months (April & May) of FY 2022-23
stood at 59,723.32 crore rupees as compared to 51,423.59 crore
rupees during the same period of FY 2021-22, registering an increase of 16.14% year on year
basis.

The import duty hike has come about unfortunately at a time when several structural reforms
and market infrastructure ecosystem initiatives such as IIBX, compulsory hallmarking and of
late CEPA between India and UAE to boost jewellery exports, are under implementation. We
presume that the import duty hike would be a temporary and tactical measure and government
would soon revert to lower duties.

In the current edition, Ms. Renisha Chainani of Augmont speaks about the constraints faced
by Indian refiners while importing dore, Mr. Vidit Garg of Kundan Gold throws light on digital
gold business and their new gold refining facility, Mr. Vipin Raina of MMTC-PAMP details about
product innovation and retail push and Mr. James Jose, President, Hallmarking Federation of
India shares his views on challenges in jewellery hallmarking in India and the way forward.

This issue also carries a special coverage on Mr. Jayantilal Challani, Managing Partner of M/s.
Challani Jewellery Mart and President, The Jewellers and Diamond Traders Association, Chennai.
On global coverage, Ms. Sakhila Mirza, Executive Board Director and General Counsel at LBMA
details about Gold Bar Integrity Programme while Mr. Jeffrey Premer speaks about his company
Vaultex which is the World’s first institutional grade and entirely cloud-based digital exchange.

India Gold Conference 2022 is scheduled between 29 and 31 July in Chennai. IGC2022 would be
hosting market participants from across the spectrum of gold value chain ranging from refining,
trading, banking, jewellery and many more. Besides the regular sessions on bullion market, re-
fining, digital gold and price outlook, IGC2022 will feature five special sessions- on jewellery, re-
fining technology, IIBX, India-UAE CEPA and silver. Looking forward to meet you all at IGC2022.

Do you have any interesting story to share? Please write to us at editor@bullionworld.in It can
be on the Indian or global precious metals market and jewellery industry.

Best wishes,
G Srivatsava
Editor

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