Gold import ban rumour panics jewellers

Under scanner

jewellery and bullion traders say the buzz is that the Central Government is looking closely at the jewellery trade as part of the crackdown on black money

PM Narendra Modi on Sunday mentioned how people holding black money have shifted their holdings to gold soon after demonetisation was announced

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 13

A rumour doing the rounds on social media that the Narendra Modi government was planning to ban import of gold till March 2017 threw the country’s jewellers into a state of panic.

According to those in the jewellery and bullion trade, the rumour is being passed on WhatsApp groups and mailing lists which primarily cater to those in the trade. “The rumour began floating sometime on

Friday evening and now everyone is talking about,” says a jeweller from Borivali in Mumbai.

Jewellers fear intensification of crackdown on those who opened their shops late Tuesday night shortly after Modi came on television to announce the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. Reports on

social media showed people thronging jewellery shops with bags of the banned cash till early Wednesday morning to stock up on gold jewellery.

Income Tax department officials are scrutinising the CCTV footage from as many as 600 jewellers across the country. Jewellers have been asked to identify people who featured in the CCTV footage so that they may be called for questioning, say traders. The tax authorities are also closely to verify the gold stock held by the jewellers immediately prior to and after the currency ban. “Jewellers fear that all jewellers may be asked to submit records by the Income Tax department,” a jeweller added.

Informally, associations of jewellers have asked their members to be prepared to submit their stash of currency notes to banks by November 15 and not wait till December 30.