Ahmedabad: Jewellers have finally come to terms with the 1% excise duty that was imposed by the Union budget earlier this year. After going on a 42-day strike and holding several rounds of discussions with the finance ministry, jewellers have decided to adhere to the June 30 deadline and register with the central excise department.
In Gujarat, more than 1,000 jewellers have registered with the central excise department and more are likely to follow by Thursday. "According to the rules, jewellers who had a manufacturing turnover of Rs 12 crore and above in 2014-15 have to register with the central excise department," said Zaveribhai Zaveri, the president of the Gujarat Jewellers Association.
"Similarly those who had a manufacturing turnover of Rs 5.5 crore and above in 2015-16 or Rs 50 lakh and above in March 2016, will have to register."
According to sources, of the over 1,000 jewellers, most are retailers. "We have sent messages to all jewellers that they should register immediately with the excise department if they come under the criteria," Zaveri said. Jewellers held a series of discussions with officials of the central government on excise duty modalities until last week. After the strike, the jewellers formed a 20-member committee - the All India Jewellers Action Committee - on the national level to negotiate with the central government.
"Our three representatives were a part of the committee formed by the finance ministry," Zaveri said. "We are satisfied with the outcome of the discussions held by this committee. We will meet BJP president Amit Shah and Union minister Piyush Goyal on June 30 and request them to issue a revised circular on the excise, as recommended by the committee."
A source in the central excise department said that it would be difficult to determine how many fall in the ambit of the duty till a substantial number of registrations are made.
The source said, "The principal chief commissioner held a press conference three months ago to address the issues raised by jewellers but after that there has been no serious effort by officials to allay jewellers' fears."