According to statistics, inflow of gold into India through legal channel has witnessed phenomenal rise in recent times. Gold houses have turned to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to import gold after paying duty. Moreover, Indians prefer to buy gold from international market, mainly on account of two reasons. Firstly, gold is available at a cheaper rate than in India. Also they believe that gold in India is not as pure as the gold available in international market.
The Indian government allows passengers who have resided outside India for more than six months to bring free gold into the country. Female passengers can bring gold worth Rs 1 lakh, whereas the permitted limit for male passengers is Rs 50,000. This category of passengers is also permitted to bring up to one kilogram of gold after paying 10% customs duty and additional 2% cess duty.
According to government regulations, passengers who have stayed abroad more than a year could carry any quantity of gold with them. However, they will be charged 36% baggage duty rate for gold exceeding the one kilogram limit.
The above duty structures are applicable only if the passenger makes a self-declaration of the quantity of gold that they carry. If any undeclared gold is identified by Customs department, it will be seized. In such cases, the passenger will have to pay up to 20% penalty in addition to the actual duty to get release of the seized gold.
The customs department can detain passengers when they carry undeclared gold worth more than Rs.20 lakh. Otherwise, the gold will be sized and the passengers will be allowed to go free.
Source:resourceinvestor
Source:Bullion Bulletin