The notification was issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs. The tariff value, which is released fortnightly, is the base price on which the customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing and discourage import of gold to ease pressure on balance of payments.

It may be recalled that the Union Budget for 2012-2013 had raised the duty on gold and had levied an excise duty on unbranded jewellery. Bullion markets in the country, had remained closed to protest the hike.

Gold in the last few days has begun losing glitter, on account of the belief that Indian imports of the metal would reduce following the government's budgetary proposals. Also, a recovery in the growth prospects of the US has led to greater preference for equity as an asset class and a movement away from gold.

In times of strong economic growth momentum, investors prefer equity as an asset class, rather than gold.

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