India gold seizures hit three-year high after import duty increase

This was the largest amount since 2019, when 3,673 kilograms of gold was seized

Seizures of smuggled gold in India reached a three-year high this year after the government raised the import duty on the precious metal and international flights resumed following COVID-19 curbs.
 

India is the world's biggest gold consumer after China and meets most of its demand through imports. In July it raised the duty on gold imports to 12.5% from 7.5% to dampen demand, bring down the trade deficit and ease pressure on the rupee.
 

So-called grey market operators try to avoid the import duties by selling gold at discounts to market prices, which in turn forces competing dealers to lower