Bullion traders protest gold duty hike, shut shops for 3rd day

Gold and jewellery establishments in many parts of the country remained closed for the third day today as traders are protesting budgetary proposals to double basic customs duty on gold import and imposition of excise duty on unbranded jewellery.

Traders in the several parts of the country, including the metros,Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, kept their shops closed for the third day, All-India Sarafa Association President Sheel Chand Jain said.

Jain said the association has written a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last week demanding withdrawal of these proposals.

"The budgetary proposals doubling the customs duty on gold to 4% and levying of a 1% excise duty on unbranded jewellery would affect business and wipe off the existence of nearly 95% of small jewellers in the country", he said.

Jain said the proposal to hike import duty on gold will encourage smuggling of the precious metal as well.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had yesterday  said the pressure tactics of bullion dealers, "will simply not not work".

"I did it deliberately," he told PTI in an interview when asked about the three-day strike by bullion dealers across the country to protest the levies.

He explained that in two consecutive years, about $90 billion of precious foreign exchange was used in importing gold making it the second biggest item of import after oil.

Meanwhile, jewellers and goldsmiths in Phagwara in Punjab also kept their shutters down today to join the nationwide protest.

They observed the strike for the third consecutive day in line with countrywide strike call by goldsmiths and jewellers, Mohanjit Jaura, president of Swarnkar Sangh, Phagwara said.