Indian Customs and IB alerted on mounting gold imports from Switzerland

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The unprecedented rise in gold imports from Switzerland to India in recent months has alerted top agencies including the Central Bureau of Excise and Customs and the Intelligence Bureau. The agencies sense the likelihood of loads of black money deposits in Swiss banks returning to India in the form of gold.

According to Swiss authorities, bullion exports to India totaled nearly INR 11,000 Crores during the month of June this year. The exports of gold, silver and coins during the month totaled 44.2 tonnes during the month. Government data suggests that gold exports to India accounted for 42% of the total exports by Switzerland during the month. In May ’14, gold imports by India had accounted for 33% of the total shipments by Switzerland during that month. The combined gold exports to India surpassed INR 50,000 Crores during the initial six months of the year.

The top Central agencies including Customs and Intelligence Bureau have been asked to keep vigil on the sudden spurt in gold imports from Swiss vaults. The Indian Finance Ministry has also decided to monitor the issue very closely.

The newly elected Indian government had earlier declared that it is committed to crackdown on black money stashed abroad. The country’s Finance Minister had forwarded a letter to Swiss administration seeking details of Indian nationals who have parked money in Swiss banks.

Meanwhile, Swiss authorities commented that it is too early to conclude that the un-taxed money in Swiss banks are being converted to gold and imported to India through hawala operators based in Dubai.