Crackdown on jewellers: Tax searches net Rs 815 mn from jewellery couriers

This is the first mega crackdown on jewellers to check for tax evasion after GST implementation in July 2017

Officials from the departments of goods and services tax (GST) and central excise jointly conducted searches on around 200 angadias across the city and seized around 125 packets of diamond, gold jewellery and cash worth Rs 815 million on Thursday.

Angadias act as couriers in the diamond trade. They receive packets from clients, in this case, diamond processors/sellers and jewellery manufacturers/traders in Mumbai, to deliver to other clients in Surat and other places in Gujarat, and so on. Their clients in Mumbai and Surat transact business over telephone. Thereafter, the angadias take charge of delivering the sealed packets of diamond, gold