CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -The government had in the FY23 budget raised import tariffs on a host of items including imitation jewellery, umbrellas and earphones to encourage local manufacture. Import tariffs on gold were raised in 2022 to curtail imports of yellow metal.

Detailed explanation-2: -For example, duty on silver bars and Silver dore bars, with $6.6 billion worth of imports in 2022 saw duty increased from 6.1 and 7.5% respectively to 10%. Gold jewelry with imports worth $950 million saw duty increased from 20% to 25%.

Detailed explanation-3: -He said the combined imports value for products where duty was raised is USD 12 billion or 1.6 per cent of India’s total merchandise imports in 2022. Import duty was hiked on a number of goods including silver bars and dore bars, styrene, vinyl chloride, naphtha, gold jewellery, small cars, bicycles, and toys.

Detailed explanation-4: -Budget 2023 Gold: In July 2022, the government hiked the gold import duty to 15 percent, up from the earlier 10.75 percent. The basic custom duty (BCD) were hiked from 7.5 percent to 12.5 percent while the Agriculture and Infrastructure Cess (AIDC) remained unchanged at 2.5 percent.