GOLD, the China link.

In 2023, gold was found concealed inside triangle plumbing valves imported from China. Officials recovered over 61.4 kilograms of gold worth Rs 32.4 crore in 1,856 valves. In May 2022, the DRI intercepted an import consignment of electric hammers in Mumbai — which arrived from Hong Kong and an examination had revealed 16.054 kilograms of gold concealed in these hammers.

In a separate case, the DRI intercepted another consignment, which, at the air cargo, was declared to contain drum-type drain-cleaning machines. Smugglers had hidden gold in the form of discs in the rotors of these machines. In 2023, it was revealed that in eastern Ladakh along the China border, 108 kilograms of gold was smuggled into India via a land route that the authorities did not know. The route was used multiple times. Then, there have been instances of the DRI having seized gold worth crores smuggled from China through the Indo-China Border in Sikkim.

Bottom line : With one stroke of her pen - FM Nirmala Sitharaman has rendered Gold Smuggling in India not profitable.

It is common knowledge that gold smuggling is linked to import duties, government policies, and regulations — as import duties rise and gold prices increase, the smuggling market becomes more lucrative. Hence, the first step in curbing the menace of Gold Smuggling in India was to make it less lucrative by bringing down the tax and keeping it on par with countries like UAE that impose 5 per cent Value Added Tax on Gold.