Holmes – India Spares Silver from New Tax
Another excellent week-end update from our friend Frank Holmes at U.S. Global Investors in San Antonio. Just below is one paragraph plucked from that report of special interest to us, but there is much more “red meat” in the full update at the link below.
Frank writes: “Although India may have increased taxes for gold, the move could present an opportunity for silver, the poor man’s gold, to shine. After escaping India’s budget reforms, investors have shown a keen interest in buying one kilo silver bars.
On Friday, India’s Finance Minister exempted branded silver jewelry from excise duty. Silver coins of purity 99.9 percent and above were also exempted from excise duty. However, the excise duty on refined gold was doubled from 1.5 to 3 percent. “Silver has clearly been exempted for a reason,” said Prithviraj Kothari, president of the Bombay Bullion Association. “Out of $50 billion worth of imports of precious metals into India, silver imports were just $4 billion, while that for gold was the other $46 billion,” he said.
Source: USGI
