India, May 14 -- The significant increase in the import duty on gold and silver from 6 per cent to 15 per cent may lead to an increase in imports from Dubai through the free trade agreement route, think tank GTRI said on Wednesday.

It said that the duty hike also sharply changes the economics of precious metal imports routed through the United Arab Emirates under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

India had allowed imports of gold from Dubai at tariffs one percentage point below the normal Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) rate through a Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) system.

The quota began at 120 tonnes annually in 2022 and is set to rise to 200 tonnes by 2027, nearly one-fourth of India's yearly gold imports.

"Wit...