Four bullion dealers in Mumbai under lens

MUMBAI: Income Tax officials knocked the doors of four large bullion dealers in Mumbai, heaping more anxiety on the trade that is coping with several official agencies investigating suspicious cash deals almost every day.

The Mumbai income tax department is inspecting four large bullion dealers based in the city's gold hub, Zaveri Bazaar, and adjoining Kalbadevi area. An I-T staffer said “questionable sale transactions of bullion” post the demonetisation were behind the surveys.

A survey is different from a raid in that it consists of examination of books of accounts of an assessee and no seizure of cash happens as in a raid.

The dealers being subjected to the survey record turnover of Rs 500-1,000 crore annually on sale of gold bars to secondary dealers and jewellers, trade sources confirmed.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate raided couple of bullion dealers for facilitating conversion of unaccounted funds in scrapped notes post demonetisation from November 9.

The government demonetised old Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes running into Rs 14.2 lakh crore on November 8 in a fight against black wealth generation and counterfeiting by terrorists. Some bullion dealers and jewellers across the country sold gold at hefty premiums just after the demonetisation to buyers wanting to dispose of their unaccounted scrapped notes. These transactions are now being investigated but certain trade officials say most shady dealers and jewellers would have already regularised their books and that actions by enforcement agencies might not yield much at this stage.

Nonetheless, action by the authorities has created a wave of fear among the traders.

“Malafide acts by a few have tarnished the reputation of the whole trade,” said Ketan Shroff, spokesperson of India Bullion & Jewellers Association.