Introduction
Reserve Bank of India has granted general permission to persons of Indian
nationality or origin to bring into India a limited amount of gold and silver.
However, import of gold and silver is govern by certain rules and regulation and
are given in detail below.
Import of Gold
A NRI who has been residing in a foreign country for over one year and is
returning to India may be allowed to import jewellery without paying any custom
duty in his use up to an aggregate value of ten thousand rupees in the case of a
male passenger. In case of a female passenger, an individual can import gold of
up to rupees twenty thousands.
If the amount of gold imported exceeds the import duty free range, then the
custom duty charges an amount of Rs. 250 per 10 gms of gold. Even in such a
situation, an individual is only permitted to import a maximum of 10 kg of Gold
as a part of their baggage after paying the required customs duty. It should
also be noted that that these facilities is given only to those passengers who
is coming to India after a stay abroad of about six months.
Gold may be brought into India in any form, including ornaments; however, a
declaration is needed to be filled by the importer for obtaining the permitted
quantity of gold from customs bonded warehouse of State Bank of India or from
Metal & Mineral Trading Corporation subject to other conditions.
In case where a passenger has declared the gold, but could not clear it for want
of sufficient foreign exchange for paying Customs duty, then re-export of the
same may be permitted.
Silver
A Non Resident Indian can import silver in any form up to 100 kilos at a time
provided he is coming to India after 6 months stay abroad. Duty is payable @ Rs.
500/- per Kilo.
Selling of imported Gold and Silver
Gold and silver so brought by NRIs can be sold to residents against payment in
rupees. But it should be credited in rupees and credited to Ordinary
Non-resident Rupee (NRO) account of the NRI seller.
Custom Bonded Warehouse
This is an option to take delivery of the metals in India from the customs
bonded warehouses to be operated by the State Bank of India and the Minerals and
Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC)
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Sometimes physical carriage of gold involved security
hazards, particularly for passengers arriving by flights landing at odd
hours during nights, it was thought fit to introduce Customs Bonded
Warehouses.
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This facility would be operated by SBI and MMTC in Delhi,
Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram and specified delivery centers.
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Passengers availing of this facility would have the option
to make the payment for the gold in foreign exchange either abroad or in
India.
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In cases where passengers had made the payment abroad and
were found ineligible for import on their arrival in India, appropriate
provision for refund would be provided under the scheme.
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Passengers intending to avail of the facility of delivery
of gold through such warehouses would be required to make a declaration to
this effect before the customs authorities at the time of their arrival in
the country at the respective airports – Sahar, IGI Delhi and
Thiruvananthapuram.
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The eligibility of the passengers would be decided by the
customs authorities at the time of customs clearance of the passengers and
such passengers would deposit the duty at the airport itself.
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