New Delhi
To prevent harassment to passengers, the government on Thursday proposed increasing the limit of duty-free import of jewellery via passenger baggage to Rs 50,000 for males and Rs 1,00,000 for females.
The rule has been amended for Indian passenger who has been residing abroad for over an year or a person who is transferring his residence to India. “Gold prices have risen since (1991), and passengers have complained of harrasment. Hence, I propose to raise the duty-free limit to Rs 50,000 in the case of a male passenger and Rs 1,00,000 in the case of a female passenger, subject to the usual conditions,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in his Budget speech for 2013-14 fiscal. Since 1991, the passenger limit for bringing jewellery has been Rs 10,000 for males and Rs 20,000 for females. The limit of duty free allowance for bringing jewellery for crew member of vessel and aircraft has also been enhanced from Rs 600 to Rs 1,500.
With regard to import of precious stones and gems by traders, the government proposed reduction in import duty from 10 per cent to 2 per cent on pre-forms of precious and semi-precious stones.
India, the world’s largest consumer of gold jewellery, is estimated to have imported 750 tonnes of gold in 2012 and an additional 200 tonnes was believed to have been imported through unofficial channel, taking the total to almost 2011 level of 969 tonnes.
