Jewellers across India, including manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers have organised a three day business shut down calling on the government to withdraw the proposed excise duty levy of 1% on jewellery announced in the Union Budget on February 29. The jewellers are also asking for a withdrawal of the rule that makes it mandatory to quote PAN numbers in the case of cash transactions of Rs. 2 lakh and above.

The protest is being organised by the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) in coordination with nearly 300 jewellery associations from across the country.

Stating that the levy, if implemented, will harm the industry, G V Sreedhar, chairman, GJF, said, "The proposed excise duty of 1% without input credit or 12.5% excise with input credit will create huge liabilities for small manufacturers, who employ unskilled day-to-day labour at large, the very people the government wishes to exempt.”

He said that a similar move had been announced by earlier governments both in 2005 and 2012, but had subsequently been withdrawn after representations from the industry. He added that it was impractical to impose such a levy on an industry which has a very large unorganised sector with small enterprises run by highly skilled people but poorly educated workers who are not equipped to handle the paper work required.

The jewellers are seeking a meeting with the Minister and said that further decisions would be taken depending on the response of the government to their representation.