We just reported on Indian gold smuggling however, we were looking at smuggling from a different angle than simply bars and coins crossing the border illegally. While it’s interesting to see how much gold is believed to be flowing into India, illegally, it’s a whole other thing to know who is benefiting from the confiscation of illegal gold. It’s an important story from any angle and one, in my opinion, that doesn’t get enough coverage. The flow of gold, both above board and through illegal channels, paints a picture about what people are doing with their wealth, how little trust they have in currency and how little trust they have in their respective governments.
As we have reported endlessly about how little confidence the people of India have in their government here is the latest in a long string of reports about what is believed to be the flow of illegal, black market gold into and through India. Of course the numbers are more of a guess than anything else due to the fact smuggling, by it’s very nature, is a liars venture.
SMM: the gold market has been extremely impressive this summer, with international gold prices rising nearly 8 per cent in August. Affected by higher gold prices, gold demand in India, a big gold demand country, was weak in August.
It is important to note, however, that gold smuggling in India has been conspicuous since the beginning of the year.
About 40 to 50 tons of gold has been smuggled into India so far this year, according to (WGC), the World Gold Council.
For the whole of last year, the country smuggled 100 tons of gold.
At one point, gold smuggling in India fell 15 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, but nearly 30 tonnes of gold were smuggled into India in the third quarter as gold prices rose.
The Indian government raised import tariffs on gold from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent this year, a big factor behind gold smuggling.
Gold prices in India rose 10.3 per cent in August on the performance of the rupee. Source
We see, again, the same 10 ton void that we reported in Gold Smuggling In India – Who Keeps The Confiscated Gold?. If someone attempted to report, outside the “climate hoax church”, a variance of some 25% they would be laughed out of existence. But when it comes to reporting something as confidently as the World Gold Council (WGC) is reporting on gold smuggling into India. The WGC spouts these numbers as fact when there is nothing factual about them – nothing at all.
How is it possible that in one statement, within the same report, the reporting agency uses a hard number like “15 percent” and in another statement use a 25% variance when reporting on the same subject?!?! I wonder why people don’t trust governments, currency and the banking system and would rather hold their wealth outside the system in something like gold. It’s a mystery to me.
