A top-level meeting held under the Chairmanship of Commerce Secretary has decided to act swiftly on mitigating the hassles involved in gold imports to the country. Based on the detailed discussions held during the meeting, the Department of Commerce decided to appoint nodal officers to address all grievances and difficulties being faced by nominated banks, agencies and export fraternity in importing and procuring gold.
The representatives of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) had raised several critical issues such as unavailability of gold to the exporters post RBI circular, different interpretations by customs officers at various ports across the country and various procedural hurdles the export community need to clear in procuring duty free gold from nominated banks and agencies.
The meeting attended by senior officials from various government departments, leading banks and agencies appointed four nodal officers-D.S Dhesi, Rupa Dutta, Sandeep M Bhatnagar and M.K Arora, whose primary duty would be to ensure the smooth availability of gold for exporters in the country.
The customs officials unsure of implementing RBI notification had blocked all gold imports to the country. According to estimates by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), nearly one ton of yellow metal is ‘stuck’ in airports with customs authorities. The gold jewellery exports by the country in August declined sharply by 60.84% year-on-year on account of limited inventory of precious metal in domestic market.
Source: scrapmonster
Source: BullionBulletin