Gold being imported under disguise of platinum to gain from lower duty

This issue of importing gold disguised as platinum has come to light in the past few weeks, said a source in the know

Thanks to an ambiguous law on the import of platinum alloys, some bullion importers are making big profits. A handful of them are importing refined gold cloaked as platinum alloy. Gold attracts 15 per cent import duty, as opposed to platinum alloy that invites a duty of 10.75 per cent.

Industry sources say this is a case of mis-declaration and duty violation. Yet the Customs has cleared consignments in the past two weeks since the legal semantics in the notification have not clearly defined alloys of precious metals to prevent misuse. The process of amendment to the notification, however, has