Investors having authorised capital worth at least Tk 10 billion and paid-up capital worth Tk 1.0 billion will be eligible to build gold refineries in Bangladesh.
They have to set up the refineries on minimum 20 bighas of their constant and own land.
These provisions have been incorporated in a standard operating procedure (SOP) for setting up and operating gold refineries.
The commerce ministry issued the SOP, dated July 7, 2021, through a gazette notification in a bid to implement the Gold Policy (amended)-2021.
Currently, there is no gold refinery in Bangladesh as import of raw gold was restricted.
The commerce ministry allowed import of raw gold for the first time on June 3, 2021 by issuing amended Gold Policy.
On July 1 this year, foreign exchange policy department of the Bangladesh Bank issued a circular with an instruction that import of unrefined gold would be allowed for the investors who will have own refinery.
Investors said the amended gold policy will open up a new horizon in industrialisation in Bangladesh.
According to the SOP, investors will have to complete the work on their gold refineries within two years of awarding licences.
The government will encourage local investment in gold refinery or other areas of jewellery industry for at least ten years.
As per the policy, the government would allow unrefined or partially refined gold. Entrepreneurs will have to refine those at their own refinery plants to produce and market different grades of gold bars and gold coins.
Source of raw gold has also been determined in the SOP on the basis of the stock of some 100 tonnes of gold in one or more goldmines or having the capacity to supply 10 tonnes of partially refined gold (DORE) in a year.
The goldmines have to be recognised as the highest-grade goldmines for importing unrefined gold.
The entrepreneurs will have to sign memorandums of understanding with one or more international standard companies to import gold.
Source of raw gold importers must not have any involvement in money laundering or not have any sanction by international community.
As per SOP, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will offer bonded warehouse facility and tax holiday facility after commencing production for a certain period, considering the investment costly and risk-factor in financing, duty-free facility on import of capital machinery and other consumable products to be used in refineries.
Entrepreneurs will have to submit reports on import, sale, stock or purchase of gold to the divisional officer of the Value Added Tax (VAT) office.
Investors will have to submit applications to the commerce ministry for setting up gold refineries along with details of probable capacity and necessary documents.
There will be two committees--one for selecting investors and another for scrutinizing compliance.
In 2019, the world market for gold jewellery was equivalent to US$229.3 billion and it is expected to reach US$291.7 billion in 2025.
Despite frequent attempts, the president and general secretary of Bangladesh Jewellery Samity could not be contacted for their comments in this regard.
