RETRIEVAL OF STOLEN ANTIQUITIES

The Ministry of Culture reported the retrieval of Indian antiquities held abroad, detailing numbers recovered from the USA (589), UK (21), Australia (51) and the Netherlands (1), totalling 662 items as of June 2026. Retrieval is initiated case‑by‑case, guided by national and international laws and facilitated through mutual understanding and cooperation with the concerned countries. The government acts through Indian embassies whenever an illegally exported artifact is identified, noting that no comprehensive global list of such collections exists.