Jewellers extend pan-India strike till Mar 7

Jewellers, protesting throughout the country against the government proposal to re-impose 1 per cent excise duty, have decided to extend their strike till March 7, industry body GJF said on Friday.

"The excise guidelines which have been drafted for the Gems and Jewellery are not practically implementable and will be detrimental to the survival of the industry. We are expecting positive results from the government, but our agitation and protest continues," All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation Chairman G V Sreedhar said.

GJF along with All India Jewellery Associations has decided to extend the strike till March 7.

Jewellers went on strike for three days from March 2.

In the Budget 2016-17, the government has reimposed 1 per cent excise duty on gems and jewellery sector without input credit and 12.5 per cent with input credit

GJF past Chairman and Director Bachhraj Bamalwa said: "We fail to understand what is bothering the government to reintroduce it again, since such Excise Duty measures in the past did not provide any tangible results and were withdrawn at later stages. Does the Government wants Inspector Raj in this sector?

Is this "Ease of doing business?"

GJF along with many Associations have met senior ministers, MPs and Finance Ministry officials requesting the government to rollback excise from gems and jewellery sector.

Jaitley assures to look into grievances: According to another report, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assured the jewellers that he would look into their grievances regarding imposition of 1 per cent excise duty and mandatory quoting of Permanent Account Number by customers for transaction of Rs 200,000 and above, an industry body said on Friday.

"We have met the Finance Minister in New Delhi and gave him our representation. We told him about difficulties the industry is facing due to certain government policies.

"He gave us a patient hearing and has assured us to look into the matter," All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation Chairman Sreedhar G V told PTI.