The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Hon’ble Devendra Fadnavis has assured the gem and jewellery industry of complete support from his government and promised a speedy solution that will allow exporters to provide bank guarantees instead of upfront payment on VAT charged on gold. He was speaking as Chief Guest at the 41st India Gem and Jewellery Awards (IGJA 2014) held at the Tata Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai on January 29, 2015.

This assurance came in response to the some requests made to the Maharashtra government by Vipul Shah, Chairman, GJEPC while welcoming the CM to the function. Shah had pointed out that while exporters were providing bank guarantees for the import duty levied by the central government on gold purchased to fulfil export orders, they were being asked to pay cash upfront on account of the VAT which was levied by the state authorities. Though the amount was being refunded on completion of the export orders, the companies were facing unnecessary administrative and financial burdens.

The chairman also urged the CM to look into some of the other issues facing the industry, particularly the need for a convention centre of international standards in Mumbai, and provision of a bank licence to ABN AMRO NV to operate in India, as it was one of the larger lenders to the industry.

Responding to the points in Shah’s speech, Fadnavis said that he would raise the issue of a bank licence to ABN AMRO with both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. He also assured the industry that his government was keen to work with them as partners, adding that the state government would be happy to have detailed discussions with a delegation from the industry, to understand the problems it faced and work out solutions.

While concluding, Fadnavis said that the government had noticed that the industry had shifted some of its operations out of the state. He urged all those assembled to “Make in Maharashtra”, clarifying that he meant fresh expansion of their business activities in the state, rather than moving back from other states.