&w=3840&q=100)
Govt tightens gold import rules, plugs Dubai route misuse under CEPA
The restrictions apply to unwrought, semi-manufactured, and powdered forms of gold and silver.
Backdoor gold route via Dubai closed
The move follows reports that some importers had exploited ambiguities in customs classifications to bring in nearly pure gold from Dubai under the guise of platinum alloy.
By misdeclaring gold as platinum, they were able to access lower import duties offered under CEPA.
"This measure follows the Budget announcement to create separate HS codes to ensure that gold imports don't happen in the name of platinum," an official was quoted as saying.
HS code reform and CEPA quotas
The Budget for FY26 proposed the creation of dedicated HS codes for precious metals like gold dore, silver dore, and platinum. The goal is to better regulate and monitor imports while aligning duty structures.
Under CEPA, India allows the import of up to 200 metric tonnes of gold annually from the UAE at a reduced tariff — with a 1 per cent concession available via the TRQ mechanism.
Trade council urges diversification
In February, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) urged the Commerce Ministry to partially shift gold imports from Switzerland to the US to help correct India's trade imbalance.
Switzerland currently supplies 35 per cent of India's gold bars. The council proposed a similar shift in silver bar imports from the UK — which supplies 41.54 per cent — to the US.
In 2024, India exported $11.58 billion worth of gems and jewellery to the US while importing $5.31 billion, creating a $6.27 billion surplus.
The US accounted for 20.28 per cent of India's exports in this category and 12.99 per cent of overall trade.
The GJEPC proposal comes amid concerns over potential tariff pressures from US President Donald Trump, who has publicly called out trade imbalances. The council has also proposed lower domestic import duties to offset possible US retaliation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
a few seconds ago
- Hans India
Initiatives like IMEC needed especially in times of volatility, uncertainty: Italy's envoy Talo'
New Delhi: The ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor project was started with a "lot of hope" and such initiatives are needed especially in times of volatility and uncertainty driven by global security challenges, Italy's envoy for IMEC, Francesco Talo' said. In an exclusive interview to PTI Videos at the Italian Embassy here on Wednesday, he also said that less than a month after its launch in New Delhi in 2023, there was a "terrible attack" against Israel on October 7, and this impacted the project. "Therefore, things were slipping, frozen. But, now there is a renewed interest," the envoy said. The Israel-Hamas conflict still goes on, and the Middle East (or West Asia) region has seen wide-scale volatility and uncertainty over the last two years, including the recent twelve-day military confrontation between Israel and Iran in June. "I would say that especially in times of volatility or uncertainty, we need projects like this (IMEC). We need to have a differentiation. We need to be ready to play on different grounds. So, not to be conditioned only by one route, by one interlocutor," Talo' told PTI in the interview. Cautioning that in times of great inter-dependence today, he underlined that one needs to be on one hand "not too dependent" on any one option, and on the other hand, need to live in a system of inter-dependence. Talo', a seasoned diplomat, visited India earlier this week to take part in a meeting of representatives of countries which are partners in the IMEC initiative. He also met India's deputy National Security Advisor. "I have had meetings with part of the administration, especially with people in the National Security Council and the external affairs ministry. And I'm planning to meet other people today (Wednesday) in order to better understand the importance of our partner India," he added. So it's good that in this very city, the "first meeting" among the special envoys of IMEC was held, the diplomat said. "I was here when the initiative was launched in September 2023. I was with my Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. And, we had a clear vision of a great opportunity for our countries, for our shared interests," Talo' said, adding, IMEC was started with a "lot of hope" and it was very much linked to the idea of having important political and economic results. And, this is the moment really to have a "transition" from a phase of conferences, interviews, and some public events to a "more concrete phase of action", he asserted. Billed as a pathbreaking initiative, the IMEC envisages a vast road, railroad and shipping networks among Saudi Arabia, India, the US and Europe with an aim to ensure integration among Asia, Middle East and the West. The IMEC initiative was firmed up on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Delhi in September 2023. An agreement was signed by India, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the US and some other G20 partners for the corridor. EU signatories Italy, France, and Germany are partners in this transnational connectivity project. Many strategic affairs watchers have described the IMEC as perhaps an answer to China's massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a mega infrastructure and connectivity project that will involve a large number of countries. Asked about his views on BRI, Talo' described it as "another project" and different from IMEC. "They are different by nature. Their members are different. So, I don't want to.. I don't like the idea of presenting IMEC as something against them. It's something for us, for our partners, for our peoples. And, then there can be other initiatives," he said. Italy had joined BRI in 2019. According to international reports, it had announced its withdrawal from it, four years later. Talo' emphasised that when it comes to realising the IMEC vision, there are financial challenges and practical infrastructure challenges. "It involves several countries. We all know that it's not going to be simple," he said. "But it could be a great opportunity, because we see great prospects of growth for all of us," the envoy said. Talo' underlined that one cannot have real security and peace "when only one nation is rich". There is need for entire region to grow, and of course innovation can somehow be the lead for these changes for the better. "We are already seeing this in India," he said. The Gulf countries are also important protagonists, actors in innovation. "We can do it all together, and this will also benefit countries which have more problems," the envoy said, adding, this can somehow also "contribute to the peace process". During the interaction, he also shared the reasons for Italy pitching its coastal city of Trieste as a "possible principal hub" in this corridor. Also, India, the Middle East, and at least Italy and the Mediterranean countries in the same region, which "I like to call the Indo-Mediterranean region, we have a common interest that is an area of growing prosperity where, for instance, navigation and trade is free and open", Talo' said. Italy, along with three other IMEC partner countries are also part of the powerful G7. "Of course, the G7 countries can offer a contribution... Furthermore, I think it's important to take into account the role of the European Union with its Global Gateway initiative. So, the idea is that IMEC can be put under the umbrella of the Global Gateway," he said. In November 2024, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in his address, on the occasion of inauguration of the new Chancery of the Embassy of India in Rome, had referred to the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). The minister had said that this connectivity corridor, which was agreed to in principle during India's presidency of the G20, will be a game changer between Europe and Asia.
The Hindu
a few seconds ago
- The Hindu
Trump plans 100% tariff on chips made outside U.S.; OpenAI's GPT-5 nears release; Apple to invest $100 billion in U.S. manufacturing
Trump plans 100% tariff on chips made outside U.S. U.S. President Donald Trump said that he will be imposing 100% tariff on computer chips unless they're manufactured within the U.S. The threat has raised the fears around higher prices of electronics, automobiles, household appliances and other essential electronic items. Trump's warning comes three months after he had said electronics would mostly be exempt from the heavy tariffs imposed by his administration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage of chips pushed up the price of autos causing increased inflation. Investors have said that the tariff exemptions were a plus for Apple and other major tech companies which have invested massive amounts of money in chip manufacturing outside the U.S. Apple has committed to investing $600 billion in the U.S. with another $100 billion promised in February. Big Tech in total has said they will be investing $1.5 trillion in the U.S. since Trump has come to power. There is a chance that Trump could exempt Apple from the tariffs owing to this. Demand for chips has grown with sales increasing by 19.6% in June, according to data. Trump has been fostering domestic manufacturing often saying that the high costs of chips outside the country could be avoided by opening factories domestically. OpenAI's GPT-5 nears release OpenAI is preparing for the release of their latest flagship AI model, GPT-5, so users can finally see the increments in performance from GPT-4. A couple of people who have tested the model said that the coding capabilities of the model shone as did its ability to solve science and math problems. However, the advances from GPT-4 to GPT-5 were not as huge as the advances from GPT-3 to GPT-4. The recent advancement in AI models was based on scaling up by increasing training data and compute. But OpenAI has struggled with scaling up like issues with running into a data wall. Ilya Sutskever, the former chief scientist at OpenAI had said in a speech earlier that even though power could be expanded, data was becoming limited. Besides this, another problem was that the 'training runs' for large language models are more likely to have failures from hardware malfunctioning so researchers can't determine the final performance of the models until the end which can last for months. OpenAI released ChatGPT around three years ago introducing AI to the mainstream globally. The release led to rivals like Google and Anthropic releasing competitive AI models. OpenAI is also working on solving test-time compute which involves reasoning AI models. But CEO Sam Altman said that GPT-5 will be a mix of both reasoning and their flagship large language models. Apple to invest $100 billion in U.S. manufacturing Apple CEO Tim Cook met Donald Trump yesterday to announce an additional investment of $100 billion across the next four years. Under the announcement, Apple will bring more of their supply chain and advanced manufacturing processes to the U.S. as a part of the American Manufacturing Programme initiative but it still isn't a full commitment to make the iPhone domestically completely. Cook said that this plan will expand work with 10 companies across the U.S. that make parts and semiconductor chips. These partners include Corning, Coherent, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments and Broadcom along with a few others. Apple had earlier this year said that it will invest $500 billion domestically. Trump has been upset with Apple shifting their manufacturing processes to India from China after he placed tariffs. Just recently now, Trump is targetting India due to their purchase of Russian oil and imposed additional tariffs on India. Cook has previously said that a bunch of iPhone components can be made in India like the glass display and module to identify faces.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
a few seconds ago
- First Post
If not Russia, from where can India buy its oil?
India has been receiving flak from the US for buying oil from Russia. Trump has even imposed a 25 per cent tariff. If the penalties continue, India will have no option but to halt the crude oil imports from Russia. In such a case, what are its options? read more US President Donald Trump has warned that countries purchasing Russian exports could face sanctions if Russia fails to reach a peace deal with Ukraine. File image/AP India, which gets more than a third of its oil imports from Russia, is likely to turn to supplies from the West Asia and Africa and other regions if it is forced to cut Russian imports due to possible US penalties. Why is India importing Russian oil? India turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia has become the top supplier to India, accounting for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies, up from less than 2 per cent before the war in Ukraine. Global crude prices surged to $137 ( approx. Rs 12,000) per barrel on supply shortage fears in the wake of the Western-led sanctions before stabilising. The discounted Russian crude has reduced Indian refiners' costs. India imports more than 85% of its oil needs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD How much Russian oil does India buy? The world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer received about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in the first half of this year, up 1 per cent from a year ago, trade data showed. A view of reservoirs of Russian state-controlled oil giant OAO Rosneft at Priobskoye oil field Near Nefteyugansk in western Siberia, Russia. File image/AP While Indian state refiners buy Russian oil from traders, private refiners Nayara Energy and Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the world's largest refining complex, have long-term supply deals with Rosneft. Why does Trump want Indians to cut Russian oil imports? US President Donald Trump has said he would raise the tariff charged on goods imported from India substantially from 25 per cent, in view of New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil. He has warned that countries purchasing Russian exports could face sanctions if Russia fails to reach a peace deal with Ukraine. New Delhi has resisted the pressure, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and its economic needs. However, the country's state refiners have paused buying Russian oil. What are India's options if it can't buy Russian oil? Besides Russia, India buys oil from Iraq - its top supplier before the war in Ukraine followed by Saudi Arabia - and the United Arab Emirates. Indian refiners mostly buy oil from West Asian producers under annual deals with the flexibility to request more supply every month. Since Trump's sanctions warning, the refiners have bought crude from the United States, the West Asia, West Africa, and Azerbaijan. India has diversified its sources of supply to about 40 countries, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri says, adding that more supply is coming onto the market from Guyana, Brazil and Canada.
