Jewellers to protest for a week
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If you have any plan to buy gold jewellery, put it on hold for at least a week. Jewellery shops across the state will be closed for a week starting April 4 to press for withdrawal of the excise duty hike on gold and platinum announced in the Union Budget.
“We want an immediate rollback of the taxes,” said N. Anantha Padmanabhan, regional chairman of the All India Gem and Jewellery Trade Federation in Chennai.
Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee not only hiked excise duty on gold and platinum from 2 per cent to 4 per cent but also brought unbranded jewellery in the ambit of 1 per cent excise duty in his Budget announcement.
The minister hinted at a partial rollback of the hike, but traders want complete withdrawal. “There is no clarity on what the minister said and we want only complete rollback,” said Princeton Jose, MD of Prince Jewellers.
There are more than 3,000 shops in Chennai alone that do a daily business of Rs 100 crore. Hence, the seven-day shutdown could result in a huge loss to the state and central exchequer.
“The voluminous correspondence and file work to be maintained for getting excise department clearance is cumbersome and this may see the return of Inspector Raj,” laments Prakash Jain of Nakoda Jewellers.
The revised tariff value for bulk gold imports to $539 per 10 gm and bulk silver imports to $1,034 per kg came into effect on April 2. Tariff value is the base prices on which the customs duty is levied on precious metals.
With this move, the government seeks to bring down gold imports from a whopping 967 tonnes in 2011, which is the next biggest imports after crude oil.
Bullion traders on the contrary opine that the tariff hike would hit demand as the increased costs have to be passed on to consumers.
Hearing the bandh call V.Narasimhan, whose daughter is getting married in May lamented, “Since the budget announcement this shut down has been frequent. I have not been able to purchase jewels for my daughter’s wedding.”
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