Smuggled Gold Seized by Authorities Surged in 2022

The data released by the Finance Ministry indicates that the country reported a total of 3,982 cases of gold seizure in 2022.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest government data reveals that seizure of smuggled gold witnessed significant surge in 2022.

The quantity of seized gold surged higher by 47% year-on-year to 3,502 kilograms during the year. The various government enforcement agencies had seized 2,383.38 kilograms of gold in 2021 and 2,154.58 kilograms in 2020. Also, a total of 916.37 kilograms of smuggled gold were seized during the initial two-month period of the year, it said.

The data released by the Finance Ministry indicates that the country reported a total of 3,982 cases of gold seizure in 2022. This compares with 2,445 cases in 2021.

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Among various states, Kerala topped in the quantity of seized gold, with 755.81 kilograms in 2022. The gold seizure had amounted to 586.95 kilograms in the year before that. The state reported as many as 1,035 number of gold seizure cases during the year. The other Indian states to report highest quantity of seized gold were Maharashtra (535.65 kilograms) and Tamil Nadu (519 kilograms).

The recent report published by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) suggests that gold smuggled into the country has peaked due to rising demand for the yellow metal and the existing high duty structure on legal gold imports into the country. The overall duty rate for official gold imports comes to around 18.5%, which in turn makes illegal imports flourish in India.