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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News Network
July 1,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka registered a record 1,272 Covid positive cases to breach the 16,000- mark to take the states tally to 16,514, while seven people succumbed to the dreaded virus, an official said on Wednesday.

"New cases reported from Tuesday 5 p.m. to Wednesday 5 p.m. 1,272," said a health official.

In the past 24 hours, seven people have succumbed to the virus, two each in Bengaluru Urban and Bidar and one each in Dakshina Kannada, Belagavi and Hassan, taking the state''s death toll to 253.

Of the record number of cases in the last 24 hours, Bengaluru Urban bore the brunt with 735 infections, taking the city''s tally rise to 5,290, out of which 4,649 are active cases.

Among the new cases, excluding Bengaluru, Ballari accounted for 85, followed by Dakshina Kannada (84), Dharwad (35), Bengaluru Rural (29), Vijayapura and Hassan (28 each), Uttara Kannada (23) and Udupi (22).

Chamarajanagar witnessed 21 cases, followed by Bagalkote (20), Tumkur (19), Davangere (16), Chikkaballapura (15), Kalaburagi and Ramanagara (14 each), Koppal (13), Raichur and Chitradurga (12 each), Yadgir, Bidar and Belagavi (8 each), Kodagu (7), Mandya and Kolar (5 each), Shivamogga (3), Gadag (2) and Chikkamagaluru (1).

Of the 1,272 new cases, 1,068 or 84 per cent are contacts of earlier cases while domestic returnees accounted for 42 cases or 3 per cent.

On Wednesday, 145 people got discharged from different hospitals, elevating the total number discharges to 8,063.

Of the 16,514 cases in Karnataka, 8,194 are active cases.

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News Network
April 3,2020

Bengaluru, April 3: The ASHA worker, who was attacked by locals in Sadiq layout area in Bengaluru while conducting a coronavirus survey, on Friday expressed satisfaction with police action in the matter.

"I am happy that five people have been arrested for attacking me while I was conducting a survey in view of COVID-19 in Sadiq layout area in Bengaluru on April 1. We serve the people and work for the betterment of the society," Krishnaveni, the ASHA worker, told news agency here.

ASHA workers, who were deployed to spread awareness about coronavirus and identify suspected cases, were allegedly attacked by a group of locals in the area on Wednesday.

"We had been conducting surveys for the past 14 days ever since a positive coronavirus case was identified in the area. A person came and asked why we were gathering information. We informed him that a positive case was identified in the area," Krishnaveni said.

"They made an announcement from the mosque not to give any information to us. Afterwards, several people came out of their houses and started attacking us," she added.

Police initiated an investigation and have made arrests in the matter.

This comes as the country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of at least 56 people and infected over 2,000 people.

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March 9,2020

Kochi, Mar 9: A three-year old child has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said in Kochi on Monday.

The child and its parents who had reached the Cochin International Airport Limited at 6 AM on March 7 from Italy were subjected to thermal screening at the universal surveillance system established, officials said.

Detecting symptoms of coronavirus in the child, they were immediately referred to the isolation ward of the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital, they said. The samples of the child sent for examination at the NiV lab at Alappuzha have tested positive for Coronavirus, they said.

The samples of the parents have also been sent for lab test, the officials added.

Five fresh coronavirus cases, including three who evaded screening on return from Italy, were reported in Kerala, prompting the government on Sunday to sound a renewed alert and warn action against those hiding travel history to affected nations.

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