The domestic jewellery sector is to get a huge boost in the UAE market as it would get duty-free access, says Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam. He highlighted that the gulf nation will get greater access to the gold market in India as New Delhi will give duty concessions on imports of up to 200 tonnes.
India has agreed to concessional import duties on gold imports of up to 200 tonnes per year. India imported about 70 tonnes of gold from the UAE in 2020-21. “We are a major importer of gold. India imports about 800 tonnes of gold every year. In this particular agreement, we have given UAE a tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 200 tonnes where the tariff or import duty in perpetuity will be one per cent less than whatever is the tariff charged for the rest of the world,” Subrahmanyam said. “Therefore, the UAE has a one per cent advantage in gold bars. That one per cent tariff difference means those 200 tonnes will be diverted to the UAE.”
The Secretary pointed out that the biggest gain for India is that it will get zero duty access to the UAE market for domestic jewellery. “There was a 5% duty on Indian jewellery and now it’s gone to zero, so the gem and jewellery sector is gung-ho.” TRQ is a quota for a volume of imports that enter India at specific tariffs. After the quota is reached, a higher tariff applies on additional imports. TRQ would also be there for copper, polyethylene and polypropylene.
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India and the UAE on Friday signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, under which a number of domestic goods will get zero duty access to the UAE market. The pact may come into force in April or May. India, in an effort to protect sensitive sectors, has kept certain segments out of the ambit of this agreement. These include dry fruits, vegetables, cereals, tea, coffee, sugar, food preparation, tobacco, petroleum waxes and coke etc.
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