Jamshedpur, March 6: Jewelry shops remained shut in Jamshedpur for the fifth straight day on Sunday as jewelers across the country are on a strike to voice their resentment against the imposition of excise duty on gold and diamond jewelry.
More than 900 shops in the Kolhan Division, including 700 shops in the city, remained closed.
The strike is being taken quite seriously by jewelers in Jamshedpur, who have been organizing bike rallies for three consecutive days, while reciting Hanuman Chalisa on Saturday in Bistupur reportedly for the god to change the Union finance minister�s decision on the issue.
�The proposed excise duty of one percent without input credit or 12.5 percent excise with input credit will create huge liabilities for small manufacturers, who employ unskilled day-to-day laborers at large, the very people the government wishes to exempt,� said Chetan Adeshra, joint secretary of Jamshedpur Jewelers� Association.
He further said, �The government has to do away with the 1 per cent excise duty imposed on us. Most of the jewelry sellers are not registered, what are they supposed to do? We won�t relent.�
Besides the excise, the jewelers are also upset over the Centre making a PAN card mandatory for any purchase by a customer of Rs.2 lakh and above.
On Sunday, city jewelers took out bike rally from Bistupur, which traversed through Kadma, Sonari, Bistupur and terminated at Bistupur. Later in the day, they held a meeting in Bistupur wherein the jewelers decided to take decision for further closure of shops on Monday.
According to industry insiders, the shut down agitation has caused business losses of over Rs. 3 crore to the traders, but unmindful of their financial losses, traders are adamant on their demand. �If government continues to move ahead with the one percent excise duty then the gems and jewelry industry will face severe losses that would be proportionately more than what we have registered in the last five days,� said a Sakchi based jeweler.
The Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), which has actively supported the gems and jewelry all through, said the central government should realize it is doing harm to the industry by introducing excise duty of one percent. �At a time when the country is experience slowdown in economy the decision to levy one percent excise on non silver items will further damage jewelry market,� said a SCCI functionary.
Another jeweler in Bistupur said, �We are compelled to take the decision of going for six days of all-India bandh in the jewelry trade and manufacturing to protest against the excise duty, which is damaging to the growth of industry,� adding, �In 2012, the industry had registered a nationwide 23-day protest by way of a bandh, wherein the present ruling party had given their support,� he added.
