CHENNAI: The jewellery sector heaved a sigh of relief on Monday as Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee rolled back some of the levies announced in the budget, but customers have nothing much to cheer about.“This is going to have absolutely no impact on gold prices for the customers. The jewellers did not charge the one per cent excise duty in the first place, so there is no question of prices coming down on this account,” said N Anantha Padmanabhan, regional chairman of the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.Moving the Finance Bill in Parliament, Mukherjee announced that the government had decided to withdraw the levy (one per cent excise duty) on all precious metal jewellery, branded or unbranded, with effect from March 17, a day after he delivered the Budget speech. While he conceded some ground to the jewellery sector, that has been on a protracted protest since the very evening of the Budget speech, Mukherjee retained the two per cent hike in import duty on gold.Anantha Padmanabhan welcomed the withdrawal of the levy saying it was a gladdening news indeed for the jewellery sector. However, certain other points would still need to be ironed out over which the sector’s trade bodies would continue to engage with the Union Ministry of Finance, he said.He underlined his point that the primary focus of the protests by the sector had not been to the taxes, but to the proposed role of the Excise Department in meddling with their affairs. He expressed optimism that Mukherjee’s announcement could serve to marginally increase consumer interest in gold jewellery purchases.
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