Indian gold jewelry exports routed through West Asia have suffered sharp drops in the last two months, according to a report in Business Standard quoted by Art of Jewelry. The reasons: a 10% import duty on imported gold used mainly for making jewelry and a 5% import duty on jewelry levied by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) starting January 1, 2017.
As a result, gold jewelry exports fell “more than 24% in January and 47.52% in February 2017”, a drop which constitutes “a major loss for India and gain for competitor China”.
Praveen Shankar Pandya, Chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) is quoted as saying: “Dubai is no longer a free trade centre. The immediate need of the hour is to reduce the import duty on gold. A duty beyond 5% is counterproductive. Hence, the government should cut the import duty on gold to below 5% to arrest the fall in gold jewelry exports”.
