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Gold and Silver Market Shifts, Geopolitics, and Indian Policy

Wednesday, May 20, 2026
5 min read
Gold and Silver Market Shifts, Geopolitics, and Indian Policy

Gold prices dipped a little bit on the MCX. It fell by 0.57 per cent, landing at Rs 1,58,175 for 10 grams in the June 5 contracts. Silver followed suit, dropping 0.80 per cent, hitting Rs 2,67,969 per kilogram.

Internationally, things were also softening. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $4,467.59 an ounce, as of 0233 GMT. That’s a dip.

US gold futures for June delivery lost 0.9% to $4,471.10 in the previous session. It was already low, hitting a floor since March 30th.

The dollar, meanwhile, just kept hovering at a six-week high. That made gold more expensive for anyone holding other currencies. And the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yields? Steady, still above a year-long high. That just means the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold is definitely up.

US signals on Iran were all over the place. President Trump warned Washington might still need to strike Tehran. But Vice President Vance said, well, both sides were making progress. No return to conflict, he insisted.

Then you have the Fed talking. Anna Paulson from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said the current interest rates were fine for now. She suggested it was healthy that investors were starting to think about rates needing to rise.

The Fed is sticking to that line. Most economists polled by Reuters think the Fed will skip rate cuts this year. They are banking on that the current inflation flare-up will just pass.

Everyone is waiting now. For the minutes from the April policy meeting. That’s due later today. Trying to figure out where the central bank is actually heading.

Meanwhile, back home, there’s the government action. Last week, PM Modi appealed to people not to buy gold for a year. He wanted to save the forex reserves.

That led to a move on Wednesday. They hiked the import duty on both gold and silver to 15 per cent. They were trying to curb non-essential imports, especially with the West Asia crisis putting pressure on those reserves.

The specifics got tightened. Effective May 13th, the import duty on gold and silver jumped from 6 per cent up to 15 per cent. Platinum saw an even bigger jump, moving from 6.4 per cent to 15.4 per cent. Other stuff got adjusted too—gold/silver dore, coins, findings.

Things got really specific with silver imports. On May 16th, the Centre tightened the rules. They changed the import status for certain silver bars from "Free" to "Restricted," right away. This came amid worries about India’s import bill, the rupee pressure, and all that global uncertainty from the West Asia situation.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, under Commerce and Industry, issued a notification on Saturday. It amended the import policy for specific silver categories under the HS 2022 schedule.

Under this new policy, imports of silver bars—the ones with 99.9 per cent or more silver by weight, or the ‘Bar—Other’ categories—which used to be freely importable subject only to RBI rules, are now classified as “Restricted.”

Some silver imports are now also brought under Reserve Bank of India regulations. It’s a shift.

All this really feeds into what we see. International market rates. Import duties. Exchange rate swings. They all weigh heavily on gold prices in India. That’s what determines the daily rates across the country.

Gold in India isn't just a market thing. It’s deeply cultural. It’s a financial option. People rely on it for big celebrations, weddings, festivals.

With all these market shifts happening, investors and traders are watching everything really closely. Staying updated. It’s just crucial for navigating all these wild trends.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

#sensational#business#global#trending

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