India for conditional duty waiver on gold imports

New Delhi: India may give quota-based duty concession on gold imports from Switzerland under the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the four European nation bloc EFTA, sources said. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

Sources also said that India has sought an investment commitment of $50 billion during the first ten years after the implementation of the agreement and another $50 billion over the next five years from the member countries of the bloc. Import duty concession on gold was a major demand of Switzerland from India in the agreement. Gold accounts for about 80 per cent of India’s imports from Switzerland. New Delhi has extended one per cent duty concession to domestic importers on a specified quantity of gold under TRQ (tariff rate quota) in a trade pact with the UAE.

“Similar duty concessions are also being worked out under the EFTA agreement,” one of the sources said. An email query to the commerce ministry on the issue did not elicit any comment. At present, a 12.5 per cent basic customs duty and a 2.5 per cent Cess are imposed on gold imports. Gold imports rose by 30 per cent to about $38 billion during April-January 2023-24.