Gold tariff value hiked to check imports

India raised the tariff value of gold to check its imports even as Finance Minister P Chidambaram virtually ruled out hiking the import duty on it.

High gold import has been one of the main factors responsible for the shooting up of the Current Account Deficit (CAD), which soared to a record 6.7 per cent of the GDP for the quarter ending December.

According to a notification issued by Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the tariff value of gold, the base price on which the customs duty is determined, has been raised to $521 per 10 gms from $516 per 10 gms.

However, the tariff value for silver has been lowered to $920 per kg from $930 a kg.

Meanwhile, Chidambaram indicated in Tokyo that the government is unlikely to raise the import duty on gold to make it dearer.

"We did raise tariffs from 4 per cent to 6 per cent. But there are limits to which tariffs can be raised on gold because if you raise tariff prohibitively gold smuggling will increase," he told a news agency.

At present gold prices are ruling at $1,597.90 per ounce in Singapore, while silver stood at $27.92 per ounce.

Gold was quoted at Rs 30,100 per 10 gms, while silver was quoted at Rs 53,200 per kg in New Delhi on Tuesday.

With inputs from PTI