Mumbai: The government on Monday restricted imports of unstudded articles of platinum jewellery until 30 April 2026, following the misuse of the zero per cent import clause.
Until now, such articles, with 90% gold content, could be freely imported. However, some traders were importing these at zero duty from Indonesia under the India-Asean free trade agreement over the past few weeks and converting them into gold bars, evading the 6% duty on gold imports, according to Surendra Mehta, national secretary, India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA), the nodal bullion trade body.
This was causing a massive loss to the exchequer, Mehta added.
“The Import Policy… is revised from ‘free’ to ‘restricted’, with immediate effect till 30.04.2026,” the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), part of the commerce ministry, notification of 17 November said.
Mint on 5 November reported that a few bullion dealers and jewellers are exploiting a loophole in the import rule to avoid duty on platinum.
Mehta had said that consignments were landing at Amritsar and Delhi airports, and the jewellery was melted and converted into platinum bars, which were then sold in the domestic market, evading a 6% duty on such bars due to their 90% gold content.
On 24 September, the ministry moved silver jewellery from the free to the restricted category until the end of the current fiscal year (FY26), allowing only those with valid licences to import such jewellery. This was done to cool the insatiable investment demand among Indians for bars and coins, which can be made by melting the jewellery.
However, while moving silver jewellery to the restricted category, the government retained platinum jewellery in the free category, which came to the notice of a few tradesmen, who decided to exploit this loophole, explained Mehta.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) uses IBJA’s gold rates to redeem sovereign gold bonds.
Chirah Sheth, principal consultant (South Asia) for precious metals consultancy Metals Focus, had earlier said India imported 4-5 tonnes of platinum bars each year against roughly 6,000-7,000 tonnes of silver annually.
