Duty-free import limit of jewellery via passengers raised

February 28, 2013

New Delhi, Feb 28: To prevent harassment to passengers, the government on Thursday proposed increasing the limit of duty-free import of jewellery via passenger baggage to Rs 50,000 for males and Rs 1,00,000 for females. The rule has been amended for Indian passenger who has been residing abroad for over an year or a person who is transferring his residence to India.

"Gold prices have risen since (1991), and passengers have complained of harassment. Hence, I propose to raise the duty-free limit to Rs 50,000 in the case of a male passenger and Rs 1,00,000 in the case of a female passenger, subject to the usual conditions," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in his Budget speech for 2013-14 fiscal.

Since 1991, the passenger limit for bringing jewellery has been Rs 10,000 for males and Rs 20,000 for females. The limit of duty free allowance for bringing jewellery for crew member of vessel and aircraft has also been enhanced from Rs 600 to Rs 1,500.

With regard to import of precious stones and gems by traders, the government proposed reduction in import duty from 10 per cent to 2 per cent on pre-forms of precious and semi-precious stones. However, import duty on gold was not enhanced from the current level of 6 per cent, giving some respite to jewellery industry.

But to discourage people to invest in gold and thereby curb current account deficit, the government offered incentives for first home buyers and announced new financial instruments for protecting savings from inflation. Emphasising that household sector must be incentivised to save in financial instruments rather than buy gold, Chidambaram proposed three-pronged strategy to encourage people to park their funds in other financial schemes.

Firstly, the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme will be liberalised to enable the first time investor to invest in mutual funds as well as listed shares and she can do so, not in one year alone, but in three successive years. The income limit will be raised from Rs 10,00,000 to Rs 12,00,000.

Secondly, a person taking a loan for his first home from a bank or a housing finance corporation upto Rs 25,00,000 during the 2013-14 fiscal will be entitled to an additional deduction of interest of upto Rs 1,00,000. "This will promote home ownership and give a fillip to a number of industries like steel, cement, brick, wood and glass besides jobs to thousands of construction workers," he said.

Thirdly, Chidambaram announced, "In consultation with RBI, I propose to introduce instruments that will protect savings from inflation, especially the savings of the poor and middle classes. These could be Inflation Indexed Bonds or Inflation Indexed National Security Certificates." The structure and tenor of the instruments will be announced in due course, he added.

India, the world's largest consumer of gold jewellery, is estimated to have imported 750 tonnes of gold in 2012 and an additional 200 tonnes was believed to have been imported through unofficial channel, taking the total to almost 2011 level of 969 tonnes.

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JD(S) leader G T Devegowda backs CM Siddaramaiah in MUDA row, taunts HDK

News Network

October 4,2024

Mysuru: Chairman of JD(S) core committee and Chamundeshwari constituency MLA G T Devegowda on Thursday expressed his solidarity with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah saying the latter need not resign, while lambasting leaders of his own party and alliance partner BJP, including Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

In his speech during Mysuru Dasara inauguration he said that if persons against whom FIR is registered have to resign, many leaders from all the three parties, including Opposition Leader R Ashoka, will have to resign.

“All are sitting in glass houses... Since I know Siddaramaiah well, I am talking about him. At a time when mines and real estate are ruling politics, Siddaramaiah has survived in politics. He has never done any favour,” Devegowda said.

He added, “Allegations against Siddaramaiah are unexpected and accidental. If the Governor and Chief Justice order an investigation, it does not mean that he should resign."

He continued, asking, "Have they told Siddaramaiah to resign or have they asked to imprison him? When a person becomes a Central minister, he or she should realise their dignity and responsibility. Instead of recognising the good work done by Siddaramaiah, they ask him to resign. Will Kumarswamy (facing an FIR) resign? Should Siddaramaiah, who has become CM with a support of 135 MLAs, resign?"

"Opposition leaders are not remembering the good work of earlier CMs Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Veerendra Patil, Ramakrishna Hegde, H D Deve Gowda or S M Krishna. Karnataka is a model state. It is a bad trend to topple an elected government which is doing good work,” he further said.

Devegowda added, “Siddaramaiah is Goddess Chamundeshwari’s ‘Varaputra’ and hence has her blessings during tough times. He won the election in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency, when the BJP-JD(S) government was in power in 2006. With the blessings of the Goddess, he has held varied positions right from becoming an MLA for the first time in 1983. He presented 15 budgets and has become CM for a second time. He took H C Mahadevappa, a Dalit leader to the state level. Siddaramaiah has the support of Deputy CM D K Shivakumar as ‘Jodeththu’. Blessings of the beneficiaries of guarantee schemes are with him (Siddaramaiah).”

Siddaramaiah said, “Devegowda was a MUDA member. He knows the truth. Hence, he is saying this. His words have filled strength in me. ‘Satyameva Jayate’, Truth will always triumph.”

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