INDIA March 02 2015 10:28 AM

 

MUMBAI (Scrap Register): The All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) has expressed a satisfaction with the measures announced by Finance Minster Shri Arun Jaitly in his maiden budget. 

 

Haresh Soni, Chairman, GJF said “GJF welcomes the innovative steps government has announced to reduce demand for overseas gold and control the CAD, by introducing the gold monetising scheme and manufacturing of gold coins with symbol of Ashoka Chakra. Making gold coins in India will reduce the demand for foreign coins. However, GJF is awaiting a detailed plan for this. GJF expects that banks will not sell and encourage the consumers to buy these coins for the investment purpose. If it is done so, the consumption of gold will increase and the current account deficit will widen further.”

 

Bacchraj Bamalwa, Director, GJF said “GJF’s recommendation for Rashtriya Svarna Nivesh (RSN) Scheme has been accepted by the government. This is a very positive move and will help control the current account deficit and will allow depositors to earn interest. We also welcome the move by the government to abolish wealth tax. This will encourage consumers to buy jewelry and show in their books of accounts.”

 

However, the federation is disappointed as the FM has over looked gems and jewellery sectors long pending demand to reduce the duty on gold and silver.

 

Manish Jain, Vice Chairman, GJF said, “In spite of the request from the Ministry of Commerce, FM has completely ignored important issue of reduction of import duty on gold which has given rise to creation of parallel economy through smuggling of gold. The industry has been requesting the Govt. for a long time. Reduction of import duty on gold would have helped to control the issue of illegal trading on gold. We urge FM to reduce import duty on gold and silver to 4%.”

 

“Another area which the Govt. has ignored is the reduction of import duty on machineries and consumables for the jewellery parks for clustered manufacturing centres with common sharing facility as was discussed during ‘Make in India’ workshop. Also, the pan card requirement for sale above 1 lac worth of jewellery will create a huge problem across the country as most of the people in the rural area do not have pan card,” Jain added.