Government revises wastage, input-output norms for gold, silver jewellery exports

The government on Friday revised 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.

An industry official said the wastage norms have been slightly adjusted from the earlier norms, released on May 27, after the industry urged the government to look into the issue.

The industry had expressed concerns over the May rules which reduced the wastage norms across jewellery categories.

After their concerns, the Commerce Ministry deferred the implementation of those rules till December 2024.

Now, the ministry has come out with the revised norms again, which have been welcomed by the industry.

"The wastage permissible and standard input-output norms with regard to export of jewellery have been revised," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a public notice.

The new norms will be applicable from January 1, next year.

The industry had made two key requests - to set the wastage norms that realistically align with the jewellery manufacturing process and permit an adequate transition period for adapting to new regulations.

Standard input-output norms (SION) are rules that define the amount of input/inputs required to manufacture a unit of output for export purposes.

Input output norms are applicable for products such as electronics, engineering, chemical, and food products including fish and marine products, handicrafts, plastic and leather products.

In May the wastage by weight in plain gold and platinum jewellery was reduced to 0.5 per cent from 2.5 per cent and in silver to 0.75 per cent from 3.2 per cent. In studded jewellery, the wastage was reduced to 0.75 per cent in gold, silver and platinum jewellery from 5 per cent earlier.

According to the new norms announced on Friday, wastage of 2.25 per cent is allowed in handmade jewellery of gold and platinum from 2.5 per cent applicable now and 3 per cent in silver jewellery from 3.2 per cent.

For gold and platinum jewellery made by machines, the wastage of 0.45 per cent is allowed and for silver, it is down to 0.5 per cent. In studded handmade jewellery of gold, silver and platinum the new norms allow for 4 per cent wastage. For machine-made studded jewellery wastage of 2.8 per cent is allowed.

Apart from jewellery the order also covers idols, coins and medallions, and other items made from these metals.

To manufacture jewellery and other items for exports, the precious metals are imported duty-free. Exports by weight must be in line with the amount of metal imported duty-free minus the wastage that can occur at the making stage. The wastage norms are strictly imposed to ensure that the duty-free metal does not find its way to the domestic market.