India to announce incentives for gold jewellery exporters

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): Indian government is likely to announce certain incentives for gold jewellery exporters, in an attempt to save the struggling sector. The inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia on Tuesday discussed various measures to boost exports out of the country.

According to sources, the government plans to extend certain incentives such as making available duty-free gold in smaller denominations to jewellery exporters. In addition, the government also plans to supply duty-free gold under the replenishment scheme to the exporters, based on their requirement.

The inter-ministerial meeting also decided to reduce paperwork for exports. According to them, scrapping of duplicate paperwork will make business processes much simpler. The export of gold on notional rate basis will be permitted for the purpose of claiming incentives. However, exporters will be required to disclose the actual value within three months from the date of shipment.

The proposed measures are likely to provide big boost to the gold jewellery export sector which has recently been passing through difficult times. Incidentally, gems and jewellery exports by the country have recorded 16^th straight month of decline in March this year. As per provisional export statistics released by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the exports during the month dropped sharply by nearly 6% to $22.71 billion.

The government believes that jewellery export is an area where the country has immense potential to thrive. The gradually strengthening global economy is expected to result in increased global demand for gold jewellery in overseas market. At the moment, India’s share of exports in global jewellery market is trivial. The proposed measures are aimed to boost gold jewellery exports, which in turn may help the country to trim its rising trade deficit.