Page 5 - Bullion World Volume 04 Issue 08 August 2023

Bullion World | Volume 3 | Issue 8 | August 2023

EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

Bullion markets were surprised when a silver consignment
was cleared at a relatively lower duty under the UAE-India
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The
current tariff of 9% under CEPA is lower than the regular tariff
of 15% after the 2023 budget revision. This rate differential
between CEPA route and the other channels is huge. Given
that there is no quantity restriction for silver imports from
UAE under CEPA, this could mean (a) significant revenue loss
to the exchequer, and (b) loss of business viability of silver
refiners (this includes four LBMA-accredited silver refiners)
and silver mining company in India. Having seen a significant
surge in silver imports during 2022, there is a need to review
the tariff under CEPA to avoid such imbalances. IBJA has
rightly flagged the issue to the government.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has amended the import policy for unstudded gold
jewellery and other gold articles of HS codes (71131911, 71131919, 71141910), changing their status
from "free" to "restricted." This means a government license will now be required to import these
goods (Except, import under HS code 71131911 permitted freely without any import license under
a valid India-UAE CEPA TRQ). The move comes as a response to a surge in imports from Indonesia
under the India-ASEAN free trade agreement, where some gold articles were coming in duty-free. In
the first two months of FY24, India imported $112.09 million worth of these products, of which $76.28
million coming from Indonesia.

In the international markets, Russia and Belarus have plans to launch an international marketplace for
jewellery early next year, which would target key markets such as UAE, China, Vietnam and Thailand.
The Eurasian Economic Union houses nearly 6000 jewellery-manufacturing units, collectively
producing USD 1.6 billion worth of jewellery.

In this edition of Bullion World, Mr Surendra Mehta has shed light on the Major Achievements of
IBJA over the years; the Vice president of IGPC Mr Harish Chopra has summarised the challenges
on taxation of Gold ETFs, while Mr P R Somasundaram of WGC has provided an excellent overview
of the gold reforms in India. Mr Sanjeev Dutta, the executive director at DMCC has overviewed the
partnership of gold trade between UAE and India. Mr Anand and Mr Dishank Hundia of Mudra
Precious Metals have provided insights about their new Bullion refining venture. We have placed
critical insights of the business done by various value chain members such as refiners, bullion dealers,
and the Dore suppliers to India followed by a short abstract of the recently concluded Asia Pacific
Precious Metals Conference 2023.

We would be happy to receive your comments and feedback on the content of this edition.
Please write to editor@bullionworld.in

Best wishes,
G Srivatsava
Editor

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