Presently, gold and silver attract a basic customs duty of 12.5 per cent. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Budget 2021 on February 1 in the Parliament and announced that the government has decided to rationalise the custom duty on gold and silver in order to bring prices closer to previous levels. Gold and silver presently attract a basic customs duty of 12.5 per cent. Since the duty was raised from 10 per cent in July 2019, the prices of precious metals rose sharply. As part of Budget 2021, the base custom duty on gold and silver have been cut from 12.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent. Since the beginning of 2021, gold rates have been volatile after it hit a record high of Rs 56,196 per 10 grams in August last year.