The government on Friday revised the norms regarding the permissible amount of wastage on exports of gold, silver and platinum jewellery.

Waste norms are the allowable amount of gold or silver that can be lost in the production process of jewelery for export.

An industry official said the wastage norms have been adjusted slightly from the previous norms announced on May 27 after the industry urged the government to look into the issue.

The industry had expressed concerns over the May rules that reduced wastage norms in jewelery categories.

Following concerns, the Ministry of Commerce postponed the implementation of these rules until December 2024.

Now the ministry has re-announced the revised norms, which have been welcomed by the industry.

In its statement to the public, the General Directorate of Foreign Trade said, “Waste permits and standard input-output norms for jewelry exports have been revised.” he said.

The new norms will come into effect from January 1 next year.

The industry had made two main demands: setting wastage norms that realistically aligned with the jewelery production process, and allowing a sufficient transition period to comply with the new regulations.

Standard input-output norms (SION) are rules that define the amount of input(s) required to produce a unit of output for export purposes.

Input output norms apply to products such as electronics, engineering, chemicals and food products including fish and seafood, handicrafts, plastic and leather products.

In May, wastage by weight in plain gold and platinum jewelery was reduced from 2.5 percent to 0.5 percent, and in silver from 3.2 percent to 0.75 percent. Waste on studded jewelery has been reduced to 0.75 per cent from 5 per cent earlier on gold, silver and platinum jewellery.

According to the new norms announced on Friday, wastage is allowed on handmade jewelery containing gold and platinum from the current 2.5 per cent to 2.25 per cent, and on silver jewelery from 3.2 per cent to 3 per cent.

Waste is allowed up to 0.45 percent in gold and platinum jewelery made by machines, and up to 0.5 percent in silver. The new norms allow 4 percent wastage in handmade jewelery studded with gold, silver and platinum. In machine-made studded jewellery, 2.8 percent wastage is allowed.

Apart from jewellery, the order also covers idols, coins, medallions and other items made from these metals.

Precious metals are imported duty-free for the manufacture of jewelery and other items for export. Exports by weight should be the same amount of metal imported duty-free minus any waste that may occur during the production phase. Waste norms are strictly enforced to ensure that duty-free metal does not enter the domestic market.