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To strengthen the country’s economy and to handle the continuously falling rupee, the Central Government has taken another big and tough step. After huge increase in import duty on gold, now the government is keeping an eye on silver. The government has put the import of silver in ‘Restricted’ category with immediate effect.

The simple and clear meaning of this big decision of the government taken on Saturday is that now no common or big businessman of the country will be able to directly import silver bars from foreign countries as per his wish. Since this decision, there has been panic among the people associated with the bullion market and jewelery business.

Return of License Raj: New rules come into effect with immediate effect.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has completely removed two specific codes to silver bricks (71069221 and 71069229) from the ‘free category’ and have now put them in the ‘restricted category’. This new rule of the government has come into effect immediately. Now importing silver from abroad will not be child’s play. According to the new order, now silver can be brought to India only through three selected and special routes.

Under the first route, only selected banks nominated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be able to import it. The second route involves government or private agencies specifically authorized by the DGFT. As a third option, only qualified jewelers approved by IFSCA will be able to trade it legally through India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX). Apart from this, ordering silver through any other means will be considered completely illegal.

Why was this very strict decision taken?

The biggest and main reason why the government suddenly had to take this strict step is the country’s increasing trade deficit. At present, India’s trade deficit has reached a record and frightening level of $333 billion. Due to this huge deficit, the health of the Indian currency i.e. ‘Rupee’ is being adversely affected and there is huge pressure on it. The main objective of the government is to stop unnecessary expenditure of foreign exchange by any means and put brakes on the huge surge in silver imports. You will be surprised to know that in the year 2025, India had imported a record $9.2 billion worth of silver from abroad, which was 44 percent more than the previous year.

Skyrocketing prices and PM’s appeal to the countrymen

The huge and historic rise in silver prices has also given the government sleepless nights. If we look at the market data, within just one year the price of silver has increased almost three times and has crossed Rs 2.43 lakh per kg. In view of this big crisis and inflation, recently the government had directly increased the import duty on gold and silver from 6% to 15%. Along with this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has also made a very emotional appeal to the countrymen. PM Modi has asked the public not to buy gold and silver for at least a year to save the country’s precious foreign exchange reserves.