Pranab agrees to reconsider duty on unbranded jewellery

Bowing to protests by jewellers and demands in Parliament, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee hinted at a rollback of the excise duty on unbranded jewellery but ruled out going back on the hike in import duty on gold and platinum.

He also promised to reconsider the proposal to make it mandatory the use of PAN card for purchase of jewellery of over Rs 2 lakh.

"I understand the plight of small jewellers... I am considering it... The period that will be available from now and (passage of) Finance Bill, I will come out with an acceptable formulation," Mukherjee said in his reply to the general discussion on the Budget for 2012-13 in the Lok Sabha.

He was referring to the decision to include unbranded jewellery in the ambit of 1% excise duty on branded jewellery that led to protest and strikes by bullion dealers all over the country.

Asked by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha to give a commitment that the duty would take prospective effect and not not now now, Mukherjee said, "I will examine the demand but without going into the legal implications, I can't say anything."

On the demand for reducing import duty on gold that was hiked from 2% to 4% in the Budget, he said, "I know it [gold] is part of our culture" but added that the import of "dead asset" results in wastage of precious foreign exchange. India imported gold worth $46 billion last fiscal, next only to crude oil.

He also promised to look into the demand for the reduction of import duty on raw silk taking into account the interests of weavers and sericulture farmers.