Gems, jewellery urges govt to reduce gold duty to 4%

Mumbai, Jan 12 (PTI) Looking to give a positive pushto the gems and jewellery sector, industry body has urged thegovernment to reduce the import duty on gold to 4 per cent andalso address issues under the GST regime in the coming Budget."Lowering the duty to 4 per cent from 10 per cent willnot only boost customer demand and uplift business sentimentfor the trade, but also help industry become more organisedand compliant," All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation(GJF) chairman Nitin Khandelwal said in the representation tothe government.The reduction in import duty will also help in thefight against black money, he added.The 10 per cent duty on gold was levied to curbcurrent account deficit (CAD), however, the country's tradedeficit narrowed more than expected to USD 12.96 billion inJune, he said.Further, Khandelwal said, there are some issues underthe current GST regime, which is hampering the industry thatthe government needs to look into.He said, under GST inter-state supply of services byjob workers (karigars) who are unregistered, that is, havingturnover below 20 lakhs in a financial year should be allowed."Retail customers are reluctant to share theirresidence address, so we request the government to increasethe invoice value to a minimum of 2,00,000 from the current Rs50,000," he further added.The industry body also asked the government toincrease the cash purchase limit to at least Rs 1,00,000,which is kept at Rs 10,000.Further, Khandelwal said, the government should enable jewellers to sell Ashoka Chakra Gold coins through their retail stores, which will increase the reach and generate more sales of the coins.

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