Centre may slap gold curbs again

New Delhi, Oct. 20: Faced with a five- fold rise in gold imports that is pushing up the current account deficit, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that the government would look at re- imposing curbs on gold imports after Diwali.

“Let the festival season be over, I will have a look at it,” said Mr Jaitley replying to a query on whether government will re- impose restrictions on gold imports.

He was however was noncommittal on the nature of restrictions the government may go in for.

“I don’t want to spoil the festival season. It is only a few days away. Therefore, after the festival I will have look at it,” Mr Jaitley had told a television channel.

The government as well as the Reserve Bank of India had imposed a string of restrictions on gold imports as country’s current account deficit ( CAD) widened to record high of 4.8 per cent of GDP in the financial year 2012- 13.

The government had increased customs duty on gold to 10 per cent and banned import of gold coins, while the RBI linked imports of the metal to exports.

However, the RBI has started easing some of the curbs and allowed more nominated agencies to import the yellow metal.

Gold imports jumped to $ 3.75 billion in September on account of the ongoing festive season. The imports stood at $ 682.5 million in the same month last year.

Higher imports pushed up the country’s trade deficit to about 18- month high of $ 14.2 billion last month.

— PTI Finance minister Arun Jaitley at his office in North Block in New Delhi on Monday after recuperating from illness that kept him away from office for nearly a month.