Confusion among jewellers over excise relief

A third open their shops, others wait for official communication from Fin Min

Over two-third of jewellers kept their shops closed on Monday on confusion over assurances from the Finance Ministry on relaxation on the excise duty levy.

A meeting on Saturday which lasted over seven hours with the Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, who was later joined by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, discussed all issues concerning jewellers and was finally decided that the Union Finance Ministry would issue a "no harassment" assurance letter to jewellers. But, instead of Finance Ministry's letter, jewellers received notices from the excise department even before calling off the strike fully.

 

This created panic among jewellers and raised doubts over the government's commitment over "no harassment" assurances given not only by the Finance Ministry and the excise department itself, but also by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Based on assurances from the government which was represented by Goyal and Shah on Saturday, we were in the process of calling off the strike. But, it seems the government is committed to take all actions under the provision of law to harass us. Meetings of various associations are currently underway to take a final decision in this regards. 

But, we are committed of not opening up the shop until the excise duty is rolled back fully," said Lala Ashok Kumar Phophalia, General Secretary, Delhi Jewellers Association. Immediately after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced proposal to levy 1 per cent excise duty in the Budget 2016-17 on February 29, lakhs of jewellers went on indefinite strike protesting the move.

Amid hopes of the rollbacks of similar moves in 2005 and 2012, jewellers conducted protest marches across the country but, the government categorically denied roll back of excise duty. Instead, Subhash C Varshney, Chief Commissioner, Central Excise (Mumbai Zone - I) announced some relaxations including no raids, accepting disclosure made by the jewellers, no human intervention in filing returns etc.

"We have received notices from the excise department. Now, all jewellers don't have access to the Finance Ministry. Hence, the government is going back on its commitment. Until, we have written communication from the government, we will not open our shops. Meetings of various associations are currently underway to take next course of action," said Phophalia.

While jewellery shops remained closed in Delhi in anticipation, a majority of shops were closed in the South Indian markets. Jewellers had a mixed reaction in Maharasthra and West Bengal.

"A number of shops in the popular Zaveri Bazaar here remained closed on hopes for doing so later," said Surendra Mehta, Secretary, India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA).

Trade sources said that jewellery shops in remote Indian states also remained closed due to the lack of updates from their central representatives.

"Some local associations and federations of jewellers want complete rollback of excise duty. They remained closed. Once, the official communications come from the Finance Ministry, things would be clear," said G V Shreedhar, chairman, All Indian Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.

Informed sources said that the Excise department would withdraw notices issued to jewellers soon.