New Delhi, May 25 -- Indians thronged jewellery shops, rushed to purchase exchange traded funds (ETF) and purchased digital gold units (currently unregulated) through e-commerce platforms, jewellers and refiners owing to a near doubling of import duty and associated cess on gold purchases.

Starting May 13, 2026, the basic customs duty on gold was enhanced to 10% (5% earlier), while the agriculture, infrastructure and development cess was raised to 5% (1% earlier). This led to an increase in overall gold import duty to 15%, which was the rate in 2022.

This followed the earlier nudge by the Prime Minister to avoid gold purchases for a year to preserve the foreign exchange reserves of the country, which are strained by hefty oil imports, a...