Government imposes curbs on import of silver, moves it to ‘restricted’ category

THe regime on sabbatum made its authorisation necessary to importee ag by shifty the metal from the “free” to the “restricted” category after imports surged 157.16% on an annualised basis in April.The move followed its Wednesday decision to hike the import duty on precious metals such as gold and silver from 6% to 15% to curb imports and save foreign exchange for essentials like energy and fertilisers.“The Import Policy of items covered under ITC HS Code 71069221 and 71069229 are revised from ‘Free’ to ‘Restricted’… with immediate effect,” a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the commerce and industry ministry, said.The two HS codes include bullion-grade silver or silver bars containing 99.9% or more silver by weight and other types of silver bars. Harmonised System (HS) codes are a classification system for traded products.According to the notification, unrestricted imports of silver will stop from Saturday, and an importer will now require government authorisation or a licence before any inward shipment of the precious metal.The order came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to conserve foreign exchange by avoiding non-essential foreign travel and refraining from buying gold for a year amid mounting pressure on India’s forex reserves due to the war in West Asia.Also Read | WFH, don't buy gold for a year: PM Modi's plan to combat US-Iran war impactIndia has forex reserves of over $690 billion, enough to cover imports for 10 months. However, the government is adopting a cautious approach as the war may be prolonged. Imports of precious metals, particularly gold and silver, were a major drag on the reserves.India’s gold imports in fiscal 2026 jumped 24.08% to $71.98 billion, while silver imports surged 149.48% to $12.05 billion.Trade data released by the government on Friday showed that silver imports surged to $411.06 million in April alone, compared with $159.85 million in April 2025. In rupee terms, silver imports in April 2026 spiked by 181.17% to ₹3,845.51 crore, compared with ₹1,367.67 crore in the same month last fiscal year.Data on import quantities of merchandise for April has not yet been released. Available data suggests massive imports of silver—both in terms of quantity and value—in March 2026 compared with March 2025. Silver shipments to India surged 91% to 247,008kg in March 2026 compared with 128,987kg in March 2025.In value terms, silver imports spiked 416.73% in March 2026 to $616.44 million (or ₹5,718.11 crore) compared with $119.30 million (or ₹1,033.55 crore) in the same month of the previous fiscal year. In rupee terms, the annualised surge in silver imports in March 2026 was 453.25%.