Gems, jewelery industry disappointed with Union Budget 2023-24

The gems and jewelery industry on Wednesday said it is disappointed with the Union Budget for FY 2023-24 as the government has retained customs duty at 10 per cent. They believe that this will encourage black marketing. President of All India Gems and Jewelery Domestic Council Sanyam Mehra said that the Union Budget 2023-24 has not addressed the important concerns of the gems and jewelery industry.

“While R&D grant will be provided to an IIT for development of lab-grown rough diamonds and machines, other areas of the industry, including issues like reduction in customs duty on gold, have been ignored,” he said. has gone. This will seriously harm the gems and jewelery industry and encourage black marketing.

GJC has been urging for the reduction of customs duty on gold for the last several years. However, in this budget, the duty on unprocessed silver bars has been increased to bring them at par with gold and platinum. Mehra said, “This step will adversely affect the public. We will keep urging the government to reduce the import duty. We are having a meeting with the Finance Minister in Mumbai on February 4, where we will once again emphasize on the industry’s important concerns including reduction in customs duty, EMI on jewellery, capital gains tax relief and gold monetization scheme, among others.

The finance minister has also proposed to cut import duty on raw materials used for making lab-grown diamonds to promote domestic manufacturing. While reducing customs duty on gold from 12.5 per cent to 10 per cent is a step in the right direction, said Somasundaram PR, Regional CEO India of the World Gold Council (WGC). Commenting positively on a proposal of the budget, he said that as per the budget announcement, there will be no capital gain from converting physical gold into electronic gold receipts.

However, the issue of reduction in import duty on gold, silver and platinum was not considered in the budget. Colin Shah, former chairman of GJEPC and managing director of Cama, said the finance minister has acknowledged the potential of lab-grown diamonds for exports and generating employment. “An R&D grant for five years will help build local manufacturing capacity, reducing our dependence on machinery imports in the years to come,” he added. Saurabh Gadgil, chairman and managing director of PNG Jewellers, said the biggest disappointment in this year’s budget is that it has not addressed the issue of reduction in import duty on gold.

Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.

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