India readies draconian gold import rules
By GCRU Gold News on Thursday, November 20 2014, 03:21 - Permalink
In October Indian jewellers and traders imported 150 tonnes from just 25 tonnes this time last year worth reports Reuters:
"We are working on it. The measures to slow gold imports are almost ready and may be announced today or tomorrow," said the source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Officials from the finance ministry and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were considering whether to reimpose import restrictions on "star trading houses" that were eased earlier this year, the source said.
The new measure could be imposing new restrictions on these trading houses, tightening the import-export ratio to 70:30 or even 60:40, and raising the import duties again, but making the rules too draconian only encourages increased smuggling.