The government Friday revised the norms related to the permissible amount of wastage with regard to the export of gold, silver and platinum jewellery.
The wastage norms are the permissible amount of gold or silver that can be lost during the manufacturing process of jewellery for export.
“The wastage permissible and standard input-output norms with regard to export of jewellery have been revised,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a public notice, adding that the new norms will be applicable from January 1 next year.
As per the revised norms, wastage of 2.25% is allowed in handmade jewellery of gold and platinum from 2.5% applicable now and 3% in silver jewellery from 3.2%.
The wastage norms, which are strictly imposed to ensure that the duty-free metal does not find its way to the domestic market, have been slightly tweaked from the earlier norms, released on May 27, after the industry urged the government to look into the issue.
For gold and platinum jewellery made by machines, the wastage of 0.45% is allowed and for silver, it is down to 0.5%. In studded handmade jewellery of gold, silver and platinum the new norms allow for 4% wastage. For machine-made studded jewellery wastage of 2.8% is allowed.
Apart from jewellery, the order also covers idols, coins and medallions, and other items made from these metals, according to the notification.
