Govt denies existence of any mechanism to fix domestic single daily gold price

There are no specific measures or mechanism to fix a single daily price for gold in India, the world's largest consumer and importer of the precious metal, the government said in Parliament Friday. "Gold is widely traded in local markets across the country. At present, there are no specific measures or mechanism to fix a single daily gold price in the country," Minister of State for Consumer Affairs C R Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

He said that the price generally depends on import rate, basic customs duty, tax and logistics cost, purity among other reasons. The prices also vary depending on location, the minister added. With regard to hallmarked gold, Chaudhary said that presently sale of both hallmarked as well as non-hallmarked gold and the silver ornament is permitted in the country. However, the Bureau of India Standards Act, 2016 has enabling provisions for making hallmarking of precious metal articles "mandatory" by the central government, he added. The country imports over 700-tonne gold annually.

(With inputs from agencies.)