India has recently announced new restrictions on importing precious metals like gold and silver from the UAE in a bid to curb the misuse of the UAE-India CEPA by importers who mislabel gold as platinum alloy to exploit lower duties. The restrictions will be imposed on gold and silver in their unwrought, semi-manufactured and powdered forms.
Under the new regulations, these precious metals can now only enter India through nominated agencies, qualified jewellers, and valid tariff rate quota (TRQ) holders under the India-UAE comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).
According to India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), gold containing 99.5 percent or more purity by weight has been classified as restricted. In addition, silver bars containing 99.9 percent or more purity are now under the restricted category.
The move follows India’s 2025 budget announcement to introduce new Harmonized System codes for key items such as gold, silver and high-purity platinum. It aims to close a loophole in the existing rules, which some importers had exploited by labelling 99 percent gold as platinum alloy to take advantage of lower import duties under the CEPA.
Read: Over 1.06 billion carats of diamonds traded through Dubai in last five years, says Bin Sulayem
To prevent the use of this loophole, the government introduced a new Harmonized System code for platinum containing 99 percent or more pure platinum. Only imports under this category will qualify for duty concessions, while other platinum compositions now face restrictions, limiting the imports of gold disguised as platinum.
Notably, bilateral trade between the UAE and India grew to approximately $84 billion in 2024, highlighting the success of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement that entered into force in May 2022. The two countries had previously set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. The UAE is also the seventh-largest investor in India, with an estimated investment of $18 billion in 2023.
