INDIA June 06 2017 3:29 PM

MUMBAI (Scrap Register): It was feared that with the introduction of GST, the gold jewelery demand will decline, but now it is believed that 3 percent GST is unlikely to have any impact on gold jewelery demand in India. 

“Gold jewelery demand is expected to be favorable over the near-term with uptick in both rural and urban demand,” K Srikumar, Vice President and Co-Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA stated.

Currently 1 percent of tax is imposed on sales in most of the states in the country except Kerala which has 5 percent tax, which along with an excise duty of 1 percent. A duty of 10% on bullion imports and 15% on jewelery imports is also imposed. 

During 2016, the Gold demand in India declined to about 21.2 percent to 675.5 tons but increased in the first quarter of 15 percent to 123.5 tons against the total demand of 107.3 tons for the same period in 2016.