Gold bars seized by I-T Dept to be sold to Reserve Bank

Finance Ministry has decided that hereafter seized or confiscated gold will be sold to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) only. This does not include gold ornaments or jewellery.

The Ministry has amended the guidelines and the amended version says, “It has now been decided that henceforth seized/confiscated gold will be sold (other than gold ornaments/jewellery/articles) to RBI only. In this regard, the Board has consulted RBI and Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) and also signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with them.”

Old guidelines prescribed gold in various forms such as bullion, jewellery, ornament, seized/ confiscated by the field formations of CBIC including the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to be sold to the Public Sector Banks and other agencies.

Under new guidelines, SPMCIL has been engaged for collection, transportation, conversion into standard gold bars and delivery to RBI. The SPMCIL has facility to melt gold at India Government Mints (IG Mint) located at Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. These mints will be carrying out processes such as pre-melting, assaying and weighing in the presence of Customs Officer.