Gold smuggling through airports rises in 3 years

New Delhi: Gold smuggling through airports increased in three years to 2014-15 and the government seized Rs 429.84 crore precious metal till mid-November this fiscal at different aerodromes in the country, Parliament was informed Friday.

"There has been an increase in gold smuggling through airports in the period 2012-13 to 2014-15. Seized and confiscated gold is sold through auction and State Bank of India," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The minister said smuggled gold and jewellery worth Rs 429.84 crore was seized as of November 15, 2015 at various airports in the current fiscal year.

In 2014-15, seizures were worth Rs 832.08 crore; Rs 557.83 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 102.36 crore in 2012-13.

Jaitley said gold smuggling in the country has been detected from nations such as Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, France, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the UAE and the UK.

"Besides, increase in custom duty rates, factors like fluctuation in international price of gold and other restrictions on import of gold also contribute to the increase in incidences of gold smuggling," he informed.

The Minister further said the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) has sensitised the field formations to keep constant vigil on attempts to smuggle gold and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence issues alerts and modus operandi circulars from time to time.

The field formations keep surveillance, gather intelligence, profile passengers and scan baggage to detect concealment of contraband including gold, he added.

In a separate reply to a question in the lower house, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said India has surpassed China as the world's largest gold consumer.

"According to the report (GFMS Gold Survey), the consumption of gold in the first nine months of the year 2015 in India has been 642 tonnes, whereas that in China it has been 579 tonnes.

"A fall in prices of gold in the recent months has been one of the reasons for the increased demand for gold in India," Sinha said.