India turns a blind eye to illegal goldGold that is tied to conflict, human rights abuses, and corruption in Africa and South America is entering legal international markets through India, a new report says. Joanne Lebert, executive director, Impact A Golden Web: How India Became One of the World’s Largest Gold Smuggling Hubs - compiled by Impact - unpacks how India imports approximately 1,000 tons of gold per year—a quarter more than official figures indicate. Some enters as legal imports thanks to falsified paperwork. “Actors across India’s gold industry are failing to do proper checks on where gold comes from to ensure it’s not financing conflict and human rights violations," says Joanne Lebert, Impact's executive director. "With its role as a leading global gold manufacturing centre, India must take action to address the weaknesses in its gold supply chain.” Impact's research reveals that one third of the world’s gold passes through India, the heart of the world’s gold manufacturing sector. With its gold jewellery exports on the rise, India has become one of the world’s leading trading hubs—with illicit gold entering country, being transformed into goods, and leaving for international markets, including North America. The report identifies three primary factors which allow a problem of this magnitude:
To tackle the problem, Impact calls on India to take immediate steps to:
“India is at the heart of a web of the illicit trade of gold, with threads spanning the globe and almost certainly financing conflict and corruption. Authorities must take action to remove incentives for gold smuggling and ensure the gold industry implements due diligence. Anyone buying India’s gold jewellery should be asking questions about where that gold comes from to have confidence in their supply chain,” adds Lebert. |