Mumbai Airport Experiences Highest Level of Gold Seizures in Nearly Two Decades

As we have seen the physical demand for gold in India rise dramatically this past year, new reports from the Air Intelligence Unit of India Customs should come as no surprise. So far this year, gold seizures by customs officials at the Mumbai Airport are the highest they have been in almost 20 years.

In the first 6 months of 2014, 535 kilograms (18,872 ounces) of gold have been seized. The total is expected to pass 1,000 kilograms by year's end. The number of smuggling attempts has increased as well. 323 kilos of gold were confiscated during a three month period between April and June, a 6x increase from the same time period last year.

In March of this year, customs intercepted their largest quantity of gold in a single night when 18 kilograms were seized. The officers involved in the incident received letters of commendation from the Customs Department.

The rate of gold smuggling is not expected to subside any time soon either, as the import duties for gold in India remain high (10%) and the recently released budget by the newly elected government in India showed no intended reduction in the near future. The previous government raised the import taxes from 2% to its current rate which caused a significant drop in declared gold imports.