A spurt in incidents of gold smuggling has come under the finance ministry?s scanner.
A committee led by the Anup Wadhawan, joint secretary in charge of capital markets in the Department of Economic Affairs, and comprising officials from the Departments of Revenue and Financial Services as well as the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Reserve Bank of India, has been empowered to monitor the situation on a regular basis, official sources told FE.
One of the main objectives of the panel, which has already held a meeting recently, is to look into ways to combat price rise in gold and the issue of the impact of the increase in gold imports on the current account and foreign exchange reserves.
A weakening rupee has been leading to a further increase in the value of gold in the country compared to its value overseas, which combined with the high duty, is in turn making gold smuggling a lucrative activity.
?A cascading effect of all this is leading to the rise in cases of smuggling of gold. The panel is also looking into that,? an official said.
The committee will also see if black money is being channelised for smuggling, besides looking at possible fiscal steps to curb gold imports and providing incentives to gold-backed financial instruments and for monetising the hoarded gold.The panel has also been informed about the surge in cases of illegal transactions including gold-related ones by some jewelers.
According to the data compiled by the ministry, the Customs Department had seized gold worth R50.02 crore during April-October 2012 at the country’s borders, which was around three times more than R15.81 crore worth gold seized during the same period in 2011.
