The government today slashed the import tariff value of gold at $401 per ten grams and that of silver to $604 per kg as prices of the precious metals fell in the international market.

Tariff value —— the base price on which the customs duty is determined to prevent under—invoicing —— of gold and silver stood at $421 per 10 gram and $606 per kg, respectively earlier.

The notification, issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), has come a day after gold prices fell by Rs 1,150 to hit 23—month lows of Rs 25,650 per 10 grams in the national capital tracking weak global cues.

India, the largest gold consumer in the world, imported 860 tonnes of gold in 2012. In the first three months of 2013 calendar year, import stood at 215 tonnes.

Gold import is expected at 350 tonnes in the current quarter, but is projected to decline to about 150 tonnes as the government has recently increased the import duty on gold to 8 per cent from six per cent.

The government has increased the tariff value of crude palm oil to $854 per tonne from $852 per tonne earlier.

The base price of refined palm oil has been kept unchanged.

Tariff values of crude palmolein, RBD palmolein were also raised to $875 a tonne and $878 per tonne, respectively.

However, the base price of crude soyabean oil has been reduced to $1020 per tonne from $1043 per tonne earlier.

Meanwhile, the gold prices today recovered by Rs 780 to Rs 26,430 per 10 grams due to revival of buying by stockists at attractive lower levels amid a rebound in global markets.

Silver also staged a strong comeback by jumping Rs 1,990 to Rs 41,000 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.

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