Skip to main content

Economic Survey indicates high tax on gold to continue

Jewellery sector will be most disappointed if no relief comes from Budget, especially after note ban

Economic Survey for 2016-17 has indicated that implicit subsidy for gold is still too high and it mostly goes to the middle class. Market
participants say that this indicates that government is looking to have higher tax revenues from gold.

Survey notes that the calculations of implicit subsidies for the middle class, which forms top 40 per cent population, is estimated based 
on expenditure distribution as per NSS data of 2011-12

LPG subsidy for this class has been estimated at Rs 28,219 crore for 15-16 and for gold it has been estimated at Rs. 10,800 crore which is 
0.08 per cent of GDP. Surendra Mehta, secretary, Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association said that, "indications from the survey which says 
that implicit subsidy on gold is still high is building a case for GST rate higher that 4 per cent". Going by survey indications, he doesn't
think there will be reduction in customs duty as expected by most market participants.
graph

During last budget government announced 12.5 per cent excise duty and with input credit it comes to 1 per cent but Survey still says that 
effective subsidy on gold is 6 per cent and subsidy on gold is more than subsidy on Railways. While it does agree that the jewellery sector 
was most affected after demonetisation but maximum loss of jobs are also in this sector.

Implicit subsidy is effective subsidy rate multiplied by consumption of gold by middle class. Government has been saying that, "it must get
18 per cent tax on gold but they get only 12 per cent (10% import duty plus 1% excise plus 1% VAT)".

Jewellery sector has been already passing through a bad patch since last one year due to low demand and will be most disappointed if no relief
comes.

01st FEBRUARY, 2017, BUSINESSS STANDARD,NEW-DELHI

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...