Duty Drawback For Gold Jewellery

In a bid to boost gold jewellery exports, exporters will be given the benefit of duty drawback in respect of gold taken from the nominated agencies against the payment of duty, said commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde yesterday.

Announcing the Exim policy for the current fiscal, Hegde said that wastage and value-addition norms would also be brought on par with international standards to benefit jewellery exporters.

However, the duty drawback on gold jewellery will not allow exporters to avail the benefits of levy exemptions on both imports as also materials sourced from domestic markets for which excise duties have been levied.

These benefits will be available only for gold drawn from the nominated agencies, which include MMTC, STC, Handloom Export Corporation, the State Bank of India and agencies notified by the Reserve Bank of India.

Gold exporters have also been permitted to export jewellery for display in the international markets.

The Exim policy has also reduced the threshold limit for gems & jewellery exports to Rs 1 crore, from Rs 20 crore. The move is expected to benefit small jewellery exporters. Before this, only a few capital goods importers actually benefited from the limit.

The commerce ministry has also extended the replenishment licensing scheme to silver and platinum jewellery. This license would now allow exporters of such jewellery to import raw materials for the purpose of adding value and re-exporting.

The sops have been given in view of the high 14 per cent weightage of jewellery & gems in the export basket.

Said Hegde: Export performance has been severely affected because of the disappointing performance of the gems & jewellery sector. Export growth in the gems & jewellery sector during the last fiscal was at a mere 3 per cent and was negative during fiscal 1996-97.