| Date: |
14-12-2015 |
| Subject: |
For gold monetisation scheme to work don’t ask people for source: Traders to government |
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KOLKATA: Jewellers and bullion dealers want the government to simplify the gold monetisation scheme to make it more popular through measures such as not pressing people to declare the source of the precious metal they deposit.
Representatives of All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation will meet officials of the finance ministry to discuss measures that could encourage people to part with their household gold.
"A married woman should be allowed to deposit 500 gm of gold under the scheme without being asked the source of it. This volume of gold is also exempted from wealth tax as it is regarded as stree dhan," said Bachhraj Bamalwa, director, All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation.
Similarly, Bamalwa said, a male should be allowed to deposit 250 gm of gold without being asked to declare its source. In case of a child, the limit should be fixed at 100 gm, he said.
Moreover, the scheme needs to be simplified and made more user-friendly, said Bamalwa.
RBI governor Raghuram Rajan also indicated recently the that scheme needs to be fine-tuned. If the scheme succeeds in its objective, it will help reduce the country's dependence on imported gold and thereby help contain current account deficit.
In 2015, India is expected to import over 1,000 tonnes of gold.
The industry has also urged the government to allow the Bureau of Indian Standards-certified jewellers to act as collection agents for the gold monetisation scheme, a suggestion to which the finance ministry has already given its in-principle approval.
Currently, there are 3.5 lakh jewellers in the country, 13,000 of whom are BIS-certified. BIS is expected to complete the registration of 55 collection and purity testing centres by December-end.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
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