Surge in silver jewelry imports from Thailand spurs DGFT to impost strict restrictions

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has restricted the import of plain silver jewelry until expressly authorised in a bid to curb misuse of India’s varied Free Trade Agreements, the federal government introduced. An evaluation by The Hindu discovered most of those imports have been coming from Thailand. The notification was issued late night on September 24, 2025. 

“The transfer, introduced by way of Notification No. 34/2025-26 dated September 24, 2025, goals to curb the misuse of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and deal with large-scale imports of silver within the guise of completed jewelry,” the Ministry of Commerce mentioned in an official assertion following the difficulty of the notification.

According to the DGFT, these restrictions have been launched in mild of the steep rise within the import of plain silver jewelry within the April-June 2025 quarter as in comparison with the identical quarter of the earlier yr. 

An evaluation by The Hindu of the month-to-month commerce information made obtainable by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry confirmed that India’s imports of silver jewelry elevated to $235.1 million in April-June 2025 from $63.4 million in the identical quarter of the earlier yr, a 270.6% enhance.

The evaluation additional reveals that the overwhelming bulk of those imports got here from Thailand. Where India imported $50.9 million value of silver jewelry from Thailand in April-June 2025, that worth elevated by 330% to $219 million in the identical quarter of this yr.

This pattern continued in July 2025 as nicely. Total imports of silver jewelry in July 2025 elevated to $148.5 million from $41.8 million in July 2024, a 255.6% enhance. With this, imports from Thailand elevated 288.5% to $142.7 million in July 2025.

“The imports circumventing the provisions of FTA have been adversely affecting home producers and posing a problem to employment within the jewelry sector,” the Commerce Ministry mentioned. 

Under the brand new framework, the import of plain silver jewelry will now be permitted solely towards a legitimate import authorisation issued by the DGFT, thereby permitting real commerce whereas stopping unfair practices.

“The authorities believes that the choice will present a degree taking part in area to India’s jewelry producers, safeguard the pursuits of small and medium companies, and safe livelihood alternatives for employees within the sector,” the assertion added.