Not considering any proposal to cut gold import duty: FinMin

[Editor: The government of India in 2013 hiked import duty thrice to 10% on import of gold in wake of high CAD. But the CAD is a creation of the 9-plus years of misrule of the UPA. Now it wants to worship Goddess Ganga with the water of Ganga--what an idea. It is to be remembered that the government first destroyed the Telecom and Mining Sectors, next started the destruction of others like Steel, Infrastructure, Power, Textile, Automobile, Real Estate, Banking and so on. Even the broking space, was not only heavily taxed but new anti-investors rules put forwards by P Chidambam &Co, threw many brokers out of business. Next the government started to suck the Gems and Jewelry Sector cover up their misdeeds of unlimited spending. The people associated with this sector, are passing through extreme distress and sleepless nights with job cuts and reduced business--but the government seems to be adamant in their vote bank politics. Is there any need to vote this anti--people government back once again? There should be a revolution in India like it happened in Russia or France to remove these people (the notorious bourgeois) out of power.  One of the leaders of the Indian Gems and Jewelry Sector, has spoken of a nation wide agitation and I think we need to support them, whole-heartedly]

Finance Ministry  today said it is not considering any proposal to slash import duty on gold in view of country's Current Account Deficit (CAD) position.

"At present, there is no proposal under consideration to reduce the import duty on gold, taking into account the likely impact on the Current Account Deficit," Minister of State for Finance J D Seelam told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

In 2013, the government hiked import duty thrice to 10% on import of gold in wake of high CAD which in turn was impacting the value of the rupee. The Reserve Bank too imposed a series of curbs to restrict gold imports.

The CAD had touched a record high of $88.2 billion in 2012-13. However, following series of measures, by both the RBI and the government, CAD is likely to fall below $50 billion in the current financial year ending March 31.

Gold imports, which had peaked to 162 tonne in May, came down to 19.3 tonne in November after the government hiked import duty thrice in 2013, taking it to 10%.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had recently said the restrictions on gold imports will be reviewed by March end.

Government collected Rs 7,590 crore revenue in form of import duty on gold during April-December 2013. In 2012-13 fiscal, the collection was Rs 10,463 crore.

Authorities have admitted that curbs were leading to gold smuggling. There has been about 1-3 tonne of gold smuggled into the country every month following the restrictions imposed on shipment last year.

In value terms, gold and silver imports in April-December period declined 30.3% to $27.3 billion from $39.2 billion during the same period a year earlier.

In the first half (April-September) of current fiscal, CAD narrowed to $26.9 billion (3.1%), from $37.9 billion (4.5%) in the first half of 2012-13.

Courtesy: The Business Standard