UAE raises concerns over India high gold import duty

By Paul Ploumis 18 Aug 2015  Last updated at 08:25:09 GMT

The UAE has expressed concerns over prevailing high gold import duty structure in India.

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster):  The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has raised concerns over the high gold import duty structure prevailing in neighboring India. The concerns were raised during the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral meetings with the UAE leadership. According to Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, the UAE leadership had mentioned the issue during the meeting. However, he declined to elaborate further on the consultations held between the two delegations.

The UAE leadership highlighted that the high duty structure of gold in India has seriously affected UAE’s exports to the country. India had hiked the import duty on gold from 2% to 10% over the past few years in a bid to curtail rising gold imports into the country in order to maintain the country’s ballooning Current Account Deficit (CAD). Incidentally, UAE has been calling for significant cut in gold import duty.

According to estimates, gold exports by the UAE to India plunged heavily during the previous fiscal year to US$4.1 billion. This is when compared with the exports of US$10.4 billion during FY 2011-’12. Over the three-year period, UAE’s gold exports to India have fallen by more than 60%. Also, overall gold imports by India have fallen from US$56.5 billion to US$34.4 billion during this period.

After conclusion of two-day visit by the Indian Prime Minister to the UAE, several announcements were made to strengthen bilateral co-operation in several domains including economy, defense and security. The delegates from both countries described the landmark visit as ‘extremely fruitful’ and noted that the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister after long gap will help to boost economic ties between the two nations.