On Thursday, the Indian government announced that it will be seeking fresh bids for import quotas of gold from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a concessional duty, as per the trade

agreement between the two countries. The quotas are for the import of 140 tons of gold from UAE during the current financial year, starting from April 1, with a duty that is one percentage point lower than India’s standard 15% gold import duty, the statement from the government said. India is the world’s second-largest gold consumer and imports most of its gold.

Last May, India signed a broad trade and investment pact with the UAE that aims to cut tariffs and boost annual trade between the two countries to $100 billion within five years. As part of the agreement, the quota to import gold from UAE at a lower duty will be raised to as much as 200 tons over the next five years.Photo by MrT HK, Wikimedia commons.