Jewellers withdraw strike on rollback hopes

Jewellers and bullion traders withdrew a 21 day strike after they received an assurance on a roll back of excise duty on unbranded jewellery by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

"We have notified all our members to call off the agitation with immediate effect," Dinesh Jain, Director of Governing Board, All-India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation, reports PTI.

India, which is the largest importer of gold has incurred a loss of Rs 20,000 crore, due to the jewellers strike. However, jewellers cautioned that should the FM not take any action as indicated,they might agitate once again.

Jewellers shops are open once again after 21 days, on hopes of a rollback.

The Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2012-13, doubled the import duty on standard gold from 2% to 4% and for non-standard gold from 5% to 10%. For unbranded gold jewellery the Finance Minister recommended a 1% excise duty, placing it in the same bracket as branded jewellery.

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