Agitation To Oppose Imposition Of 1 % Excise Duty Rises

New Delhi, March 7, 2016: With no response from the government to roll back the imposition of 1 % excise duty, All India Jewellers, Swarnkar & Diamond traders takes the agitation to the next level.

The the agitators had warned that the government that if the roll back will not happen in the coming days then we will take the protest at the next level.

Praveen Goel CMD Sunar Jewels said “The Jewellery industry has been forced to go on agitation due to government’s policy to impose 1 % excise duty in the union budget presented by our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.We are definitely on an indefinite strike until further notice and are informing all jewellers and traders across India to come and support us before its too late,” he said.

Sunar Jewels has already contacted the GJF delegation who is planning to meet finance ministry officials with a representation to take a call on future course of action. Jewellery-making is the third-largest employment generator after agriculture and textile, creating a value addition of over Rs.1 trillion, which is the same as the auto and chemical sector. So manufacturing and exports should be encouraged.

The IBJA said that levying of excise duty on jewellery will create more trouble for this industry which is already starving. There are about one crore artisans working in the industry and most of them are likely to become jobless, the association feels.