India’s Q3 illegal gold imports hit highest since 2023, World Gold Council says

The surge follows a duty increase, which is the mechanism that matters: formal tariffs create the price gap smuggling exists to exploit, so enforcement intensity and duty levels become the real swing factors for how much gold actually clears through official channels. This affects refiners, jewellers and banks that rely on transparent supply, and it complicates any read on Indian demand, since official import figures now understate consumption by a wider margin. Whether the informal share keeps climbing as long as the higher duty stands is the open question worth tracking.