During the current financial year, enforcement agencies seized 1,074kg of gold as against 326kg seized during the entire 2012-13 and arrested 514 people for smuggling of gold
The Indian government on Tuesday said there has been a rise in cases of gold smuggling due to increase in customs duty rate, but ruled out any immediate change in the duty structure of the precious metal.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for finance JD Seelam said, "The enforcement agencies during the first nine months of 2013-14 have seized 1,074.41 kg of gold as against 326.23 kg seized during the entire 2012-13 fiscal".
"The cases booked by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and customs field formations indicate that there has been an increase in gold smuggling during the past one year. The increase may be partly attributable to the fluctuation of the price of gold and customs duty rate," he said.
The Minister further pointed out that 514 people have been arrested so far in the current financial year for smuggling of gold as against 154 persons during 2012-13.
On whether the government is considering revoking the restrictions on gold import, Seelam said: "At present there is no such proposal under consideration."
In order to contain the current account deficit (CAD), the government had hiked import duty on gold thrice last year to 10%.
CAD, which touched a record high of $88.2 billion last financial year, is expected to come down to $50 billion in 2013-14.
Gold imports which had touched a high of 162 tonnes in May came down to 19 tonnes in November.
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