The gems & jewellery industry feels it has been discriminated against as its woes as regards high import duty on gold have not been acknowledged in the Vote-on-Account Interim Budget 2014-15.
“The entire gems & jewellery industry is deeply disappointed and shocked at the insensitive treatment meted out to it by the government,” Haresh Soni, Chairman, All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF), said in a statement. “The government seems to be insensitive to the plight of lakhs of families of goldsmiths and craftsmen, who are suffering due to lack of job work, and thereby threatening their livelihood”.
He said that the government was also turning a blind eye to the increasing instances of gold smuggling that was not only creating a parallel economy but also threatening the security of the country.The federation feels discriminated against “because excise duty relief has been granted to luxury items such as large/mid-sized cars & SUVs under the pretext that the automobile industry is registering negative growth but the same was not extended to the G&J industry”.
