Govt hikes import tariff value of gold to $461 per 10 gm

The government on Friday raised the import tariff value of gold to $461 per ten grams from $432 per 10 gm earlier as prices of precious metals touched an all-time high this week.

Simultaneously, the import tariff value of silver also stands raised to $803 per kg from $697 per kg, an official release said today.

Tariff value is the base price on which the customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs issued the notification two days after gold prices touched a new peak of Rs34,500 per 10 gm in the national capital.

The yellow metal had appreciated 9 per cent in value in August alone.

Gold prices, however, closed lower at Rs31,700 per 10 gm and silver at Rs54,000 per kg in the national capital today.

In Singapore, which normally sets the price trend for the domestic market, the price of gold fell by almost one per cent to $1,393.10 an ounce and silver gained 1.34 per cent at $23.55 an ounce.

India, the largest consumer of gold in the world, imported 860 tonnes of gold in 2012. In the first four months of the current fiscal, imports rose 87 per cent to 383 tonnes.

Meanwhile, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has doubled margins on trading in gold futures effective Monday in a bid to tackle volatility after local prices of the metal rose by nearly a fifth this month to a record high.

The Forward Markets Commission (FMC), which regulates the commodity futures market, hiked initial margin to 5 per cent from 4 per cent earlier, and also imposed an additional 5 per cent margin on gold, silver and crude oil futures contracts from Monday.

The move, however, is aimed at dampening the demand for gold as the nation grapples with a widening current-account deficit and a tumbling rupee currency.