India’s central bank is now able to import gold without incurring import taxes due to a recent substantial change in the country’s policies. The move represents a significant shift in the environment around the nation’s gold trade.
India is one of the world’s largest consumers of gold, and importers of the metal have historically had to pay both the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) and a basic customs charge. But this new ruling eliminates these taxes from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), simplifying the importation of gold.
According to data from September 2023, the RBI has 800.79 metric tonnes of gold reserves in total, which includes both domestic and foreign deposits. In particular, 388.06 metric tonnes are held abroad and 372.84 metric tonnes are kept domestically, according to the RBI’s reserve management report.
The price of gold fluctuated a little bit on the world market. Following a significant decline the previous day, gold prices stabilised on Wednesday. This was partially due to an American inflation report that increased bond yields and decreased expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in June. Following Tuesday’s 1.1% decline—the biggest one-day decrease since February 13th—spot gold experienced a slight gain of 0.1%, reaching $2,158.26 per ounce.
