India's Covid-19 lockdown claims another victim; gold smuggling routes

Smugglers of gold have benefited from record high prices and a 12.5% import tax that India imposes on shipments of the metal and additional local taxes

The coronavirus pandemic has crushed the inflow of gold smuggled into the world’s second-biggest consumer.

Illegal shipments of gold to India are estimated to have slowed to a trickle of about 2 tons a month, and may total about 25 tons this year, according to N. Anantha Padmanaban, the chairman of the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council. That compares with an estimate of as much as 120 tons last year, or about 17 per cent of the nation’s annual demand, according to the World Gold Council.

Illegal shipments have been hit by one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, which was