Reserve Bank of India has granted general permission to persons of Indian nationality or origin to bring into India a limited amount of gold and silver. However, import of gold and silver is govern by certain rules and regulation and are given in detail below.

Import of Gold

A NRI who has been residing in a foreign country for over one year and is returning to India may be allowed to import jewellery without paying any custom duty in his use up to an aggregate value of ten thousand rupees in the case of a male passenger. In case of a female passenger, an individual can import gold of up to rupees twenty thousands.

If the amount of gold imported exceeds the import duty free range, then the custom duty charges an amount of Rs. 250 per 10 gms of gold. Even in such a situation, an individual is only permitted to import a maximum of 10 kg of Gold as a part of their baggage after paying the required customs duty. It should also be noted that that these facilities is given only to those passengers who is coming to India after a stay abroad of about six months.

Gold may be brought into India in any form, including ornaments; however, a declaration is needed to be filled by the importer for obtaining the permitted quantity of gold from customs bonded warehouse of State Bank of India or from Metal & Mineral Trading Corporation subject to other conditions.

In case where a passenger has declared the gold, but could not clear it for want of sufficient foreign exchange for paying Customs duty, then re-export of the same may be permitted.

Silver

A Non Resident Indian can import silver in any form up to 100 kilos at a time provided he is coming to India after 6 months stay abroad. Duty is payable @ Rs. 500/- per Kilo.

Selling of imported Gold and Silver

Gold and silver so brought by NRIs can be sold to residents against payment in rupees. But it should be credited in rupees and credited to Ordinary Non-resident Rupee (NRO) account of the NRI seller.

Custom Bonded Warehouse

This is an option to take delivery of the metals in India from the customs bonded warehouses to be operated by the State Bank of India and the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC)

1. Sometimes physical carriage of gold involved security hazards, particularly for passengers arriving by flights landing at odd hours during nights, it was thought fit to introduce Customs Bonded Warehouses.
2. This facility would be operated by SBI and MMTC in Delhi, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram and specified delivery centers.
3. Passengers availing of this facility would have the option to make the payment for the gold in foreign exchange either abroad or in India.
4. In cases where passengers had made the payment abroad and were found ineligible for import on their arrival in India, appropriate provision for refund would be provided under the scheme.
5. Passengers intending to avail of the facility of delivery of gold through such warehouses would be required to make a declaration to this effect before the customs authorities at the time of their arrival in the country at the respective airports – Sahar, IGI Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram.
6. The eligibility of the passengers would be decided by the customs authorities at the time of customs clearance of the passengers and such passengers would deposit the duty at the airport itself.