Unofficial import of gold has seen a significant fall in the September quarter according to GFMS gold survey released on Tuesday. The survey says unofficial or smuggled gold inflow was 28.6 tonnes, almost half of the 54 tonness seen in the September quarter last year. In the June quarter this year unofficial gold inflow was 21.6 tonnes. Hence, hardly 50 tonnes of gold was smuggled into India in the first half of the current financial year. Sudheesh Nambiath, lead analyst for precious metals at GFMS TR said, “The fall is because of premiums prevailing in physical market and cases of seizures by authorities have also increased. As a result profitability in unofficial import has come down.”
It may be interesting to note that world gold council had said last year that unofficial import of gold in India was 150 to 200 tons. Figures now coming suggest that trend is reversing.
