14 kg less gold was declared at city airport compared to previous year, say Customs data.
Call it the effect of sky-rocketing gold prices, or an upward swing in duty, the quantity of primary silver and gold (bars) being brought in by passengers at the city’s airport has seen a dip in 2011-12 as compared to the previous fiscal.
Data available from the customs department has shown that in the financial year 2010-11 about 36 kg (36,177.04 grams) of gold bars passed through the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport, which earned the department nearly Rs24.43 lakh by way of duty on the commodity.
Compared to this, in 2011-12, the quantity of gold bars brought in through the airport saw a significant drop. Passengers carried 22 kg (22,412.51 grams) of gold bars through the city airport, lower than the previous year by around 14 kg (13,764.04 gm). In 2011-12, the customs department earned Rs18.52 lakh by way of duty on the same. The fall in duty as against the previous year was Rs5.9 lakh.
An official from the department said that this data referred to the gold brought in to city by passengers and voluntarily disclosed by them. On why the quantity of gold brought took a dip, the official said it could be because of mile-high price of the commodity.
“Given the high price, many may have either refrained from buying it or from voluntarily disclosing it,” said the official.
Similar was the case with silver bars. The quantity of primary silver brought in by passengers at the airport dipped by 10 kg in 2011-12 when compared to the previous year. The duty collection on the same also fell, although not significantly.
In the year 2011-12, 23.38 kg of silver was brought by passengers at the SVPI airport which earned the department Rs49,846 in duty. This was Rs3,839 short of the duty collected in 2010-11 on 33.55 kg of silver. In 2010-11, the department had earned Rs53,685 by way of duty on silver bars.
The official further said that silver is not as popular as gold. “We have seen that most of the gold bars are brought in by passengers travelling from Dubai, Singapore and at times even London,” said the official. Given the hike in duty on gold, the department expects their collection to go up this year. “But, there is also a possibility of increase in smuggling
activities due to this,” the official said.
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