India hikes import duty on gold, silver to 10 percent

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India hiked import duty on refined gold bars for a third time in eight months to 10 percent from the earlier 8 percent, the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The federal government also raised the import duty on silver to 10 percent from the earlier 6 percent, and the factory gate duty on gold bars to 9 percent from 7 percent.

At the current level of imports, the government expects a revenue of 48.30 billion rupees from the duty hikes for the rest of the financial year ending March 31, 2014.

India, the world's biggest buyer of gold, has been trying to curb imports of the yellow metal, which is the second biggest imported item after crude oil. On July 22, the central bank required a fifth of all gold imports to be used for export, usually in the form of jewellery.

(Reporting by Nigam Prusty; writing by Siddesh Mayenkar)