NRIs to face customs on gold

New Delhi: If your NRI relative is planning to bring gold during his home-coming, he or she should better be advised to carry along the income proof too, or else he may have to face customs officers. This is the latest measure taken by the government to plug one of the several methods used by some people to smuggle gold into India.

Custom officials will have to ascertain the antecedents of passengers bringing gold and person responsible for booking their tickets. Eligible passengers are allowed to import gold up to one kilogram by paying 10 per cent customs duty in foreign currency. Eligible passenger are Persons of Indian Origin or an Indian returning to India after a period of six months of stay abroad.

The baggage rules for bringing gold has been tightened so as to prevent the possibility of the “misuse of the facility by unscrupulous elements who may hire such eligible passengers to carry gold for them.” There were reports that people were bringing gold through this route as even after paying duties they were able to make profits due to its scarcity after new rules on importing gold were imposed.

The baggage receipt issued by customs will now include the engr-aved serial number on gold bars and item-wise list of ornaments. Till  now at many airports, the engraved serial number of gold bars and tola bars were not mentioned in the baggage receipts.

However, the government feared that there is possibility of such documents being used by unscrupulous elements as cover documents for circulation of many more gold bars that are smuggled into the country. “These documents may also be used to influence cases involving seizure of gold   bars   in areas other than customs area.”

Both the government and RBI have been expressing concern over spurt in gold import following the curbs which were imposed to reduce the widening Current Account Deficit (CAD).