Jewellers to go on 3-day pan-India strike

“We had a meeting with our members as well as with other associations under our network. We have collectively decided to go on 3-day strike. More than 300 associations, including manufacturers, retainers, artisans among others across the country will participate in the stir,” All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) Chairman Sreedhar G V told PTI here. 

Meanwhile, all jewellers associations and retailers in Kerala and Rajkot (Gujarat) went on strike from Tuesday. Sreedhar said gems and jewellery industry was disappointed with the government’s apathy towards the sector with the proposal of re-imposition of one  per cent excise duty in the Budget 2016-17, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

“We were already facing challenges and businesses have gone down by 25-30 per cent after the government’s decision in January to make PAN cards mandatory for any transactions of Rs 2 lakh and above. 

Instead of increasing the slab to Rs 10 lakh from the current Rs 2 lakh, the government has created more difficulties by the proposal to re-introduce one per cent excise duty,” he rued. Sreedhar said jewellers will take a call on future course of action after their meeting with Finance Ministry officials.