NEW DELHI: There is a decisive intervention by the Centre against gold smuggling. The Center is planning to reduce the import duty on gold. The plan is to reduce the import duty from 12.5 % to 7.5 %. The decision is likely to be made in this budget or after that.

The government's move comes amid a rise in gold smuggling. It is assessed that the gold smuggling by land increased as the lockdown affected air traffic. The import duty on gold is 12.5 %. 3% GST is levied on gold. The present price of one kilogram gold bar is above Rs 50 lakh including taxes.

The profit a person gets for smuggling gold is more than Rs 7 lakh. The Centre believes that if the government is willing to reduce the import duty on gold, they will be able to curb smuggling to a certain extent.