In January, jeweller Vihari Sheth was publicising a ritzy new line of diamond-encrusted designs. Last week, she was arrested at Mumbai airport with nearly $400,000 of gold jewellery in her underwear and on her person. Her arrest offers a glimpse into how even the wealthy may be joining small jewellers and organised gangs to skirt new government taxes on bullion imports that have made gold about 9 per cent more expensive in Indian stores.
India is the world's largest buyer of gold and the government has doubled taxes on bullion imports this year to shrink a ballooning trade deficit and end a slide in the rupee. Gold is the country's second largest import after oil. Full story
