The war between America and Iran and the instability in West Asia are now affecting the gold and silver business as well. To ease the import of silver, the government had till now kept it in ‘free category’ in the global market, now it has put silver in ‘restricted category’.
Silver has now moved from free category to restricted category. Now government permission or license is required to import silver. This decision was taken because there was a huge increase of 157.16 percent in the import of silver in the month of April as compared to last year.
Why has such a decision been taken?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to the citizens to save foreign currency. PM Modi had said not to travel abroad unnecessarily and not to buy gold for a year. Earlier on Wednesday, the government had increased the import duty on precious metals like gold and silver from 6 percent to 15 percent. Its objective is to reduce imports and save foreign exchange for essential commodities like petroleum and fertilizers.
What is the government order?
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) comes under the Ministry of Finance. Now this department has issued an official order that ‘silver bars falling under Harmonized System Code, HAS 71069221 and 71069229 can no longer be imported without permission. This restriction will apply to products with 99.9 percent purity.
Why is the government taking such steps?
The world is standing on the brink of global crisis. Global economies could collapse. India has more than $690 billion in foreign exchange reserves, which is enough for 10 months of imports. The government has become alert due to the ongoing war in West Asia. Heavy import of gold and silver was putting pressure on the foreign currency.
How much has the demand for silver increased?
According to government data, gold imports increased by 24 percent to $ 71.98 billion in fiscal year 2026, while silver imports increased by 149 percent to $ 12.05 billion. There was a sharp increase in silver imports only in April 2026. Now the government wants to curb this import, so that India’s foreign exchange reserves are protected.
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