Govt unlikely to hike import tax on gold again: FM

03 Apr 2013 Evaluate

The government is unlikely to raise the import tax on gold further to avoid gold smuggling, but would introduce inflation-indexed instruments to help curb a record current account deficit, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said. In January, the government raised the import duty on gold to 6 per cent from 4 percent to curb gold import.

By adding further, Chidambaram said ‘we did raise tariffs from four percent to six percent as there are limits to which tariffs can be raised on gold, because if you raise tariffs prohibitively, gold smuggling will increase'. Creating inflation-hedged financial instruments seems to be a way for reducing dependence on imports of gold and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government are working on inflation-proof, inflation-indexed instruments.   

Steep rise in gold import, which is considered by many as a hedge against high inflation has mainly led to the widening of current account deficit (CAD), which reached an all-time high of 6.7 percent of gross domestic product in the third quarter of FY13.  India is the world’s largest consumer of gold accounting for around 20 percent of the world’s demand, the country's purchase is a major factor in determining the global gold prices.

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