Comments
Officials of the Tax Department are harassing gold retailers and, in some cases, even confiscating their consignments, according to the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.
“There is a lot of harassment from the surveillance teams of the Election Commission too,” said federation Chairman Haresh Soni.
Referring to the recent strike call given by the Bombay Bullion Association leading to jewellers downing their shutters for a day, Soni said: “Strike is not the solution for our problems. Though we downed shutters for one day, it led to 30-40 per cent reduction in overall sales for most retailers.”
Stating that it was important to come together for a cause and that the Federation had also joined the strike call, Soni reiterated that the strike was called for by the Bombay Bullion Association and the India Bullion and Jewellers Association.
“There is no fight between the different trade bodies. It is just that we should not play into the Government’s hands by closing our shops. Instead, collectively we need to concentrate and pressurise the Government on the need to reduce the high import duty on gold, in order to save the struggling gems and jewellery sector,” he said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.