Govt cuts drawback rates on exports of gold, silver jewellery

The government has reduced the drawback rates on exports of gold and silver jewellery by more than half to adjust for the significant cut in import duties on these precious metals in the Budget.

A notification regarding this was issued by the Department of Revenue.

On the export of gold jewellery, the drawback rate has been brought down to Rs 335.5 from Rs 704.1 per gram of net gold content in the article. The rate of silver jewellery and articles of silver have been cut to Rs 4,468 per kilogram of net gold content in an article.

The Duty Drawback Scheme refunds import duties and internal taxes, which are paid while importing goods, which are, in turn, used for manufacturing products for exports.

In the Budget, the import duty on gold and silver to 6 per cent from 15 per cent.

Through this notification, "duty drawback on gold and silver jewellery was reduced as the duty on gold and silver lowered in the budget", Federation of Indian Export Organisations Director General Ajay Sahai said.

The gems and jewellery exports during April-July this fiscal contracted by 7.45 per cent to $9.1 billion.