Kolkata: The Centre has tightened rules for duty-free gold imports in its bid to curb the import of the yellow metal with the ultimate objective of shoring
up the value of the Indian rupeeagainst the US dollar. The new rules stipulate that the Advance Authorization limit for duty-free gold imports will be 100 kilograms per license. The move comes a day after the government raised the import duty on both gold and silver from 6% to 15%. The curb of gold consumption as first uttered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday when he urged the people of the country not to buy gold for one year and rein in consumption of other items such as petrol/diesel, edible oils and fertilisers — items that India imports in huge quantities. The latest step has been taken by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) which has tightened the conditions under which gems and jewellery exporters can import duty-free gold. Five new compliance notes have been issued under Standard Input Output Norms (SIONs) M1 to M8 for the gems and jewellery product group and these are effective immediately.
100 kg limit per license
Under the new rules, the Advance Authorization (AA) limit for gold imports will be 100 kg per license. The first-time applicants will need to undergo a mandatory physical inspection of their manufacturing unit by the relevant regional officer to verify the unit’s existence, capacity, and operational status before the authorisation is issued.
New conditions for re-applying
A new condition has been introduced for re-applicants. The next gold import authorisation will be issued only after at least 50% of the export obligations under the previous authorisation have been fulfilled. This is intended to ensure consistent compliance and avoid a backlog of unfulfilled obligations under the scheme.
The new conditions have been incorporated in the ‘Handbook of Procedures 2023’ and are applicable with immediate effect to all SIONs from M1 to M8 in the Gems and Jewellery product group.
Record gold imports in FY26
India recorded record gold imports in 2025-26, when it jumped by more than 24% to touch an all-time high of $71.98 billion in the last financial year. However, shipments by volume went down by 4.76% to 721.03 tonnes. The record import bill is attributed to the elevated prices of the yellow metal. For India, most of the imports took place from Switzerland, which accounted for nearly 40% of the total imports. This was followed by the UAE that accounted for more than 16% and South Africa which contributed about 10%.
