Duty hike to harm diamond exports!
Recent
Import Duty Hike to
Strengthen
Jewellery Manufacturing in India
A
step towards establishing Brand India jewellery!
The
government recently increased the customs duty on categories of diamond such as
semi-processed, half cut or broken, and cut and polished coloured gemstone to
7.5 per cent, from 5 per cent earlier, and increase in import of jewellery
articles from 15% to 20% in a move to narrow the current account deficit (CAD).
Mr
Pramod Kumar Agrawal, Chairman, The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion
Council (GJEPC) said, “GJEPC welcomes the step undertaken by the government to
narrow the current account deficit.
Welcoming
the Increase in import duty on jewellery from 15% to 20% by Chairman GJEPC said
“this move would not only help the sector strengthen jewellery manufacturing in
India but also give a boost to Jewellery exports from India, a step towards
establishing Brand India jewellery”.
Mr.
Agrawal said, “The import duty increase in cut and polished diamonds and
processed colour Gemstone from 5% to 7.5% would increase the cost of business
for the sector and impact exports and trade. India, a global leader in Diamond
Processing, is not just a Hub for processing roughs, but also caters to varied
forms of re-processing of diamonds and diamond jewellery. A substantial size of
cut and polished diamonds sold to clientele world over, in the form of either
loose or set in jewellery are imported for re setting in new design or products
as desired by the customers.”
“There
are broken, damaged sold goods and semi processed stones too, that form
considerable part of import of cut and polished diamonds. This would lead to
practical inconvenience and limit the business of cutting and polishing
impacting large part of the employment in the sector.
Other
global Trading centers such as New York, Dubai, Israel would be at an advantage
and the import duty hike could encourage malpractices in India”, Chairman added,
“Processed coloured gemstones too form significant component for Jewellery, and
hike in the tariff will hurt the business. GJEPC would represent the concerns
to the Government to find a mechanism that would help minimize impact on the
Exports.”
He
said India is a predominant Global leader in Cutting and polishing of Diamonds
contributing 70% by value, 85% by volume and 92% by pieces. India exported a
total of USD 23 billion worth of cut and polished diamonds and USD 9.7 billion
worth of plain and studded jewellery in FY 2017-18.
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