Government hikes gold import duty

To check the cross border smuggling, the government today revised the custom duty in the imports of gold upwards.

After India hiked the duty in the fiscal policy, there has been rise in the cross border smuggling of the precious yellow metal.
A cabinet meeting today hiked the import duty of gold to Rs 2,300 per 10 gram from Rs 1,500.
Earlier, the government had revised the custom duty on imports of gold to
Rs 1,500 from Rs 1,000 per 10 gm and to Rs 4,600 from Rs 2,400 per kg of silver in February.
According to Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (Negosida), with the hike in the imports duty, the gold price might go up by around Rs 500 per tola (11.644 gm).
The gold and silver traders had been demanding Rs 2,500 hike in the custom duty on gold to check cross border smuggling due to lower customs duty in Nepal than in India. After India had hiked the custom duty on standard gold to four per cent from two per cent, and customs duty on non-standard gold to 10 per cent from five per cent in its budget in March.