Jewellers extend strike for 2 more days over gold duty hike

New Delhi, Mar 20: Jewellers across the country, including Delhi and Mumbai, extended their protest for another two days against the budgetary proposals hiking customs duty on gold import and levying of excise on unbranded jewellery.

All India Sarafa Association and All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation said the strike will go on for two more days. Jewellers have been observing strike since Mar 17 against the Budget 2012-13 proposals that impacted the trade.

The stir was to end yesterday. "Keeping in view small jewellers and industry's interest, we have decided to extend strike for two more days," All India Sarafa Association President Sheel Chand Jain told PTI.

He said the industry has lost business volume of nearly Rs 3,000 crore in the past three days. The Budget has proposed excise duty of one per cent on unbranded precious jewellery and the doubling of customs duty on standard gold bars and coins to four per cent.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the pressure tactics of bullion dealers "will simply not not work". "I did it deliberately," Mukherjee had said in an interview to PTI on Sunday about the strike by bullion dealers across the country to protest the levies.

PTI