In commando-style operation, 108kg of unaccounted gold seized in Kerala jewellery hub | Kochi News – Times of India

THRISSUR: In a first-of-its-kind operation in Kerala, the intelligence wing of the state GST department has seized 108 kg of unaccounted gold in overnight raids conducted at 78 gold jewellery manufacturing units and wholesale dealers in and around the district.
The raids, codenamed Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold), were conducted from around 4.30 pm on Wednesday to 11 am on Thursday.Over 700 officials were brought from various parts of the state to Thrissur in the guise of a pleasure trip to keep the raids confidential.
GST special commissioner Renn Abraham told TOI that the raids covered large, medium and small-scale units and the owner of one of these firms had confessed to a huge suppressed sales turnover of Rs 1,200 crore. The department is investigating the unaccounted stock and sale of gold by these firms over the past five years.
The unaccounted turnover of some firms was less than Rs 10 crore, while no significant evasion was detected in a few of them, Abraham said. The exact quantum of evasion will be known only after a detailed examination of five-year records, and this may take weeks or even months, he said.
The seized gold will be transferred to the treasury now, and firms can claim it back after remitting the specified rates of GST and penal amounts. Officials said firms would have to pay 3% penalty and interest in addition to 3% GST.
The tax rates will be fixed in accordance with the market price, they said. Officials have already collected Rs 5.5 crore as fine from some units and released gold seized from there. Deputy commissioner (Intelligence) of GST Dinesh Kumar said the raids were a sequel to six to seven months of intelligence collection and planning.
The details of the operation were shared only among five to six top officials. Many participating officials were brought to Kochi and Thrissur for training programmes and maximum efforts were taken to keep it a secret, he said.
All officials were transported to the Thekke Gopura Nada area of Thekkinkadu Maidan in Thrissur in private tourist buses and cars as if on a pleasure trip, and they were deployed for raids in different batches. While some officials entered the firms, others stood outside to monitor the staff.
Some officials were keeping a vigil even from autorickshaws parked outside. Kumar said some staff in firms raided had tried to run away with gold. “Our officials chased and nabbed them.
We recovered about 6.5 kg of gold from a person who tried to run away,” he said. The raids were conducted around Thrissur, a hub of gold trade and jewellery production in the state. Commenting on GST evasion in the state, economist and honorary fellow of CDS, Thiruvananthapuram KP Kannan said nearly 20% of gold imported to India reached Kerala.
“As of 2023 data, roughly 150 tonnes of gold is sold in Kerala. But if you look at the tax structure of Kerala, the share of govt-controlled sectors like beverages, lottery and motor vehicles tax is very high in sales tax and GST collections.
The share of the private sector in tax collections is very low, though the consumption of gold and other fast-moving consumer durables is very high. This means there is a huge scale of unaccounted trade happening in these sectors,” he said.
The seized gold will be transferred to the treasury now, and firms can claim it back after remitting the specified rates of GST and penal amounts. Officials said firms would have to pay 3% penalty and interest in addition to 3% GST.
The tax rates will be fixed in accordance with the market price, they said. Officials have already collected Rs 5.5 crore as fine from some units and released gold seized from there. Deputy commissioner (Intelligence) of GST Dinesh Kumar said the raids were a sequel to six to seven months of intelligence collection and planning.
The details of the operation were shared only among five to six top officials. Many participating officials were brought to Kochi and Thrissur for training programmes and maximum efforts were taken to keep it a secret, he said.
All officials were transported to the Thekke Gopura Nada area of Thekkinkadu Maidan in Thrissur in private tourist buses and cars as if on a pleasure trip, and they were deployed for raids in different batches. While some officials entered the firms, others stood outside to monitor the staff.
Some officials were keeping a vigil even from autorickshaws parked outside. Kumar said some staff in firms raided had tried to run away with gold. “Our officials chased and nabbed them. We recovered about 6.5 kg of gold from a person who tried to run away,” he said.
The raids were conducted around Thrissur, a hub of gold trade and jewellery production in the state. Commenting on GST evasion in the state, economist and honorary fellow of CDS, Thiruvananthapuram KP Kannan said nearly 20% of gold imported to India reached Kerala.
“As of 2023 data, roughly 150 tonnes of gold is sold in Kerala. But if you look at the tax structure of Kerala, the share of govt-controlled sectors like beverages, lottery and motor vehicles tax is very high in sales tax and GST collections.
The share of the private sector in tax collections is very low, though the consumption of gold and other fast-moving consumer durables is very high. This means there is a huge scale of unaccounted trade happening in these sectors,” he said.