India's drive to trace gold deals hits snag

Mumbai

INDIA is meeting stiff resistance in its drive to make the buying of gold jewellery more transparent and to channel demand into paper gold to stop the metal being used to hide billions of dollars of undeclared "black money".

The jewellery trade says that the Narendra Modi government's plans to trace gold deals is unworkable and won't deter holders of black money, or hundreds of millions of Indians outside the tax net, from buying gold to keep their wealth away from the prying eyes of the authorities.