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Gujarat's jewellers go on indefinite strike |
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Ahmedabad: In fear of license raj, more than 50,000 jewellers across Gujarat went on indefinite strike on Wednesday, after Union finance minister Arun Jaitley's Budget proposal to levy 1% excise duty on jewellery. Sreedhar G V, chairman, All India Gems and Jewellery Foundation (GJF), said talks are on for an indefinite strike pan-India from Thursday, if the government doesn't reconsider its move.
Initially, on Tuesday, GJF had called for an all-India strike for three days with the support of 300 jewellers' associations, but jewellers in Gujarat met and called for an indefinite strike on Wednesday until their demands are met.
"The industry is not averse to shelling out 1% duty, but averse to collection of revenue in form of excise duty," said Jigar Soni, secretary, Ahmedabad Jewellers Association (AJA), adding, "We have told this many times to the government, earlier."
"We have always supported the government when it comes to revenue collections. We did not raise any hue and cry, when customs duty on import was raised to 10%. But excise is not acceptable. We will take our fight to Delhi," said Shantibhai Patel, president, Gems and Jewellery Trade Council of India (GJTCI). In 2005 and 2012, the government had introduced 1% excise duty in the sector, but was forced to roll it back.
"We will not keep quiet until the government takes back this excise duty. We will send 3-4 representatives from our association along with representatives of associations from other states to Delhi to take up the issues with MPs and ministers. We will also meet MPs from Gujarat and ask them to convince the government to roll back this decision," said Zaverbhai Zaveri, past president, Ahmedabad Jewellers Association (AJA).
"We are in talks with all jewellers' associations across the country and will take a call on indefinite strike pan-India on Thursday. Several associations from various states have already announced indefinite strike. We were already facing challenges after the government's decision in January to make PAN cards mandatory for any transaction of Rs2 lakh and above," said Sreedhar GV, chairman, GJF.
Several hundred jewellers of Ahmedabad met at a mall on CG road on Wednesday evening and decided to call for indefinite strike instead of limiting it to three days. All jewellery establishments across the state including retail outlets will now remain closed. "Excise cannot be levied on this industry. Following the indefinite strike, on an average, the sector will suffer losses worth Rs 200-250 crore every day in Gujarat," said Jigar Soni, secretary, AJA.
In 2012, the announcement of excise duty had invited widespread protests from the industry resulting in a 21-day strike that cost an estimated business loss of Rs 20,000 crore across the country, in addition to Rs 700-crore revenue loss to the exchequer. The then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had to announce complete rollback.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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