Govt ups duty on gold to 10 pc, plans import curb

August 14, 2013

Govt_ups_dutyNew Delhi, Aug 14: Acting for the third time since January, the government on Tuesday raised import duty on gold to 10 per cent to stem import of the yellow metal, a key contributor to India's exorbitantly high current account deficit (CAD) and the consequent currency depreciation.

But concerns remained that a 10 per cent duty difference in gold prices in India and outside may lead to increase in smuggling.

Duty on the precious metal was hiked in June, when its import rose to $2.9 billion.

The government expects to garner an additional Rs 4,830 crore through hikes in duties on two other precious metals, platinum and silver.

The move comes after Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday that the government would soon take measures to compress luxury and non-essential imports.

Gold is the biggest luxury import in India which does not contribute to economic growth in a significant way but is shipped into the country to meet the domestic consumption demand.

Soon after the announcement, the rupee recovered to 61.12 to the dollar from 61.66, but analysts said more structural reforms were needed to stem the fall in the India currency, which has lost more than 10 per cent against the dollar this year.

Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose said the government was working on the proposed hike in import duties on non-essential goods, but sources in the ministry say that import duty could be hiked on items such as high-end cars and LCD and LED TV sets.

The government raised the customs duty on gold from 4 per cent to 6 per cent in January, too, and thereafter to 8 per cent in June. Despite that, there was an 87 per cent increase in gold import in the four-month period from April to July. Gold import went up to 383 tonnes in the April-July period this year, as against 205 tonnes in the same period last year.

Bullion traders said that after the latest measure, gold prices could go up by Rs 600 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance J D Seelam said there have been apprehensions that a duty hike could lead to an increase in smuggling of gold or gold jewellery. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, he said customs and other departments have been alerted to keep a vigil against smuggling.

During April-July, a total of 294 kg of gold, valued at Rs 75 crore, have been seized by the Customs Department.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 13,2020

Mangaluru, May 13: Dakshina Kannada today recorded its fourth death due to novel coronavirus.

The victim, identified by number P-536, is a 58-year-old woman from Boloor area of Manglauru. She was tested covid-19 positive on April 30. 

A patient with TB meningitis, the woman had been treated and discharged from Mangaluru’s First Neuro Hospital, which has emerged as covid-19 hub of coastal Karnataka.

In hospital she had reportedly come in contact with patient No 501 who worked as a sweeper in the same hospital. 

With this death, the number of active covid-19 cases reduced to 16 in Dakshina Kannada. The district has so far reported 34 covid-19 cases including four deaths. 14 have been discharged.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Mysuru, Feb 29: More than 7,000 industrialists and entrepreneurs have left the country due to a deficit of trust, and incidents like the violence that rocked northeast Delhi will only affect the economy further, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living Foundation, said on Friday.

Sri Sri was speaking at a corporate wellness conference on the theme, 'Wellness and Wellbeing for a Progressive Nation', hosted by CII in Mysuru. He said an atmosphere of fear and mistrust pervades the country and does not augur well for the economy.

"Bankers, too, are suspicious of everyone and not extending loans to industrialists. This has posed lots of problems," he said. "This attitude among bank officials should go as life depends on trust. When there is a deficiency of trust, there is a possibility of the economy slowing down," Sri Sri added

He said society is now facing two important issues - aggression and depression. "Some people stage protests and pelt stones which happened recently in Delhi. This is really unfortunate," he said, adding, "Fear lurks in the nation's capital, which is being used by many to create terror. This will affect the economy. No country will prosper without peace."

Wellness is the need of the hour, he said, adding, "Corporates used to spend half their health to gain wealth and spend half their wealth to regain their health. This isn't good economics. We have to talk and convince people to invest in wellness."

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News Network
February 28,2020

Suhaana shuddered with fear as she heard violent banging on her door on Sunday. The atmosphere was charged with communal tension after thousands of ruthless goons supporting contentious Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) launched a bloody onslaught against Muslims in the capital of India.

The family consists of Suhaana (name changed), her partially paralysed husband and two daughters. They are the only Muslim family in Madhuban mohalla of North Ghonda locality in north-east Delhi.

Hearts pounded louder than pounding of the door. Then the banging stopped and noises of men talking loudly came.

"I peeped out from a small window near the kitchen and saw our neighbours standing outside our entrance and arguing with 10-15 unknown people," Suhaana said.

It was the first day of the communal violence, worst in the decades, that fanned out to the entire north-east Delhi over the next three days and claimed at least 42 lives, left over 200 injured and properties worth crores destroyed. The death toll is feared to go up.

Later in the night Suhaana's family moved to one of their Hindu neighbour's house. There are about 30 Hindu households in the mohalla who kept vigil as the atmosphere deteriorated.

The next day, the violence escalated. The neighbours decided to shift Suhaana 's family to Gautampuri for their safety.

Suhaana recounted, "Our neighbours assured us that they are with us but as things were deteriorating, they said they wouldn't be able to protect us if a big mob of hundreds came. They advised us to move to the nearby Gautampuri locality and come back only after things become normal."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj brought the family to Gautampuri in the early hours on February 25.

Anil Gupta, 49, said, "It was tough to rescue them. We were asked by the rioters as to why we were saving the Muslims. But we had to, it is the people of my country who are suffering. It cannot be Hindus or Muslims."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj said, "Their youngest clung to me throughout. After I brought them here at Gautampuri, I felt good. Situation till then was not okay."

On Saturday, some semblance of normalcy returned to parts of north-east Delhi with some people opening their shops amid heavy police presence.

Meanwhile, the morbid sight outside GTB Hospital's mortuary, agonising groans in the hospital wards burnt down houses and shops remind Suhaana and others what they have been spared of.

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