Indian Gem and Jewelry Industry Disappointed in Budget

(IDEX Online News) – There is dissatisfaction in the Indian gem and jewelry industry following the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Industry officials had been especially hopeful that the 2-percent tax on gold imports would be reduced, but they were left disappointed.

“The FM has completely overlooked one of the most significant areas to curb black money and a long pending demand from the gem and jewelry industry to reduce the gold import duty,” said Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) chairman Vipul Shah, as reported by the Times of India.

“Smuggling of gold plagues the industry and leads to illegal trading and the duty reduction would have helped us control the issue to a very large extent."

In addition, it failed to address other industry concerns including the simplification of the process for direct sourcing of roughs, a turnover-based income taxation system and a separate duty structure for mined and lab-grown diamonds, reported TOI.

The budget did include ways to reduce demand for overseas gold, which the government hopes to achieve with the introduction of a gold monetization scheme. According to the TOI, the scheme is expected to reduce the manufacturing sector’s dependence on foreign gold by offering domestic gold stock at “attractive” interest rates.