You are here
Indian government again raises tax on gold imports to swat people into line
The essence of this is that the Indian people want gold to be their money and the Indian government doesn't want to let them have it because gold as money restricts government power.
* * *
India Raises Gold-Import Tax for Second Time; Prices Drop
By Pratik Parija and Prabhudatta Mishra
Bloomberg News
Friday, March 16, 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-16/india-raises-gold-import-tax-fo...
NEW DELHI -- India, the world's biggest bullion buyer, increased the tax on gold imports for the second time this year after record purchases widened the current-account deficit. Gold for immediately delivery fell.
The government will tax gold bars and coins and platinum at 4 percent, Pranab Mukherjee, finance minister, said in his budget speech for the year starting April 1. That's up from 2 percent set in January. There was no change on the silver tax.
India doubled the tax on gold and silver on Jan. 17 by imposing a levy on imports as a percentage of the price, compared with the previous system of tax by weight. Global bullion prices rallied for an 11th year in 2011 as purchases by India peaked at 969 metric tons. Futures in India gained 32 percent last year, exceeding the 10 percent advance in global prices, as the currency slumped to a record low.
... Dispatch continues below ...
A Rare Opportunity with Collectible Gold Coins
Whose Premiums Are Far Below Normal
Sovereign debt problems in the United States as well as Europe will worsen this year. The mainstream financial media may never report about the likely inflationary consequences of bailouts and "quantitative easing," nor are they likely ever to recommend tangible assets for financial protection. But at Swiss America Trading Corp. we believe that it is no longer a luxury to own gold and silver coins but rather a necessity.
At the moment the public is showing little interest in Double Eagle U.S. $20 gold coins, so the price premiums above the intrinsic melt values (.9675 ounce of gold in each coin) are historically low. The ratio of price to bullion content for these coins has been 2:1 but today it is only about 1.25:1.
This is a real opportunity. So give us a call or e-mail and we will be glad to discuss the potential of these coins and how to use a ratio strategy to increase your gold ounces without money out of pocket.
In the January edition of his Early Warning Report, Richard Maybury writes: "As they are inherently in very limited supply, I believe that high-quality numismatics will become tulips, eventually rising a thousand percent or more in real terms, when money velocity goes into mid-second stage. In late stage, who knows -- 2,000 percent? 3,000?"
All inquiries will receive without charge (while supplies last) our latest book, "The Inflation Deception," as well as our newsletter "Real Money Perspectives."
-- Tim Murphy, trmurphy@swissamerica.com
-- Fred Goldstein, figoldstein@swissamerica.com
Telephone: 1-800-289-2646
"The Indian market will wait for lower prices and there is also the risk that this duty hike will lead to increased smuggling," Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS AG in London, said by e-mail today, in response to questions from Bloomberg News. "Today's duty increase will dampen Indian demand."
Gold for immediate delivery fell 0.6 percent to $1,647.88 an ounce at 12:54 p.m. in London.
The import duty on so-called non-standard gold doubled to 10 percent and the levy on ore, concentrates, and so-called dore bars doubles to 2 percent, Mukherjee said in his speech.
"One of the primary drivers of the current-account deficit has been the growth of almost 50 percent in imports of gold and other precious metals in the first three quarters of this year," said Mukherjee. "I have been advised to strengthen the steps already taken to check this trend."
The excise tax on refined gold climbs to 3 percent from 1.5 percent and the government will also levy a 1 percent excise duty on non-branded gold jewelry, the minister said. Jewelry purchases in excess of 200,000 rupees will attract a 1 percent tax from July 1, he said.
"The demand will reduce in the short-term," said N. Balaji, general manager at MMTC Ltd., the country's biggest gold importer. "As people in India like to invest in gold as a safe investment for longer term, people will accept this hike after some time," he said by phone from New Delhi.
Imports may drop to $38 billion in the year starting from April 1 from $58 billion this year, Chakravarthy Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, said in a report last month. Consumption fell 7 percent to 933.4 tons in 2011 as the currency plunged, cooling purchases for festivals and marriages, according to the World Gold Council.
"The fundamental reasons for buying gold jewelry are unchanged," said Ajay Mitra, managing director for Middle East and India at the World Gold Council. "They are rooted in Indian culture and weddings. Investment demand is driven by the need to protect against inflation, ease of liquidity, and the increasing use of gold as a monetized asset to secure loans."
The increase in tax was more than expected by the industry and imports will not be affected, said Mehul Choksi, chairman of Gitanjali Gems Ltd. (GITG) Imports plunged 44 percent in the fourth quarter to 157 tons as jewelry demand slumped 44 percent to 103 tons and investment demand declined 38 percent to 70 tons, the council said on Feb. 16.
* * *
Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:
http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html
Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:
Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:
http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal
Help keep GATA going
GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:
To contribute to GATA, please visit:
Free Month Subscription to Market Force Analysis for GATA Supporters
Market Force Analysis is a unique, patent-pending approach to commodity market analysis. An algorithm has been developed to extract supply and demand weightings from futures market data. The difference between supply and demand is the market imbalance that is called "market force," so named because it is what drives price. It brings clarity to past market action and predicts market trends. Because it is derived from accurate futures market data it is not subject to the errors inherent in macro-level estimates of supply and demand.
Learn more here:
https://marketforceanalysis.com/About_MFA.html
Market Force Analysis focuses on short-term (15 days) and medium-term price predictions to help both short-term traders and long-term investors understand market moves and benefit from the generated prediction of prices. To read subscriber comments that show how much the service is appreciated, visit:
https://marketforceanalysis.com/Testimonials.html
The MFA service has been pioneered by market analyst and Gold Anti-Trust Action board member and researcher Adrian Douglas.
The Market Force Analysis premium service provides:
-- A bi-weekly report.
-- Access to the MFA hot list of junior mining stocks derived from analysis of more than 800 mining stocks. The MFA hot list consistently outperforms well-known mining share indices like the HUI, GDX, and GDXJ.
-- E-mail alerts about actionable trades.
-- E-mail updates with important information.
To obtain your 1-month free trial subscription to the Market Force Analysis letter, e-mail info@marketforceanalysis.com and put "MFA Free Trial" in the subject field.
