India is planning to ban imports of 24-carat gold jewelry in an attempt to curb the misuse of free trade agreements with Asian countries, PTI reported. The world’s second biggest gold consumer raised the import duty on the metal to 10% in 2013 to curb demand but that has boosted smuggling and prompted some importers to use India’s FTAs with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to import 24-carat gold jewelry at just 2% import duty. The imported jewelry is then melted to make coins and bars and sold in the local market, industry officials said. The government is now planning to change existing rules to allow imports of only lower-quality 18 and 22-carat jewelry.
