The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday assured to look into issues relating to jewellery imports through FTA from Thailand.
Mr Rajiv Jain, Chairman, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, said the jewellery industry should resume their day-to-day business operations as early as possible following the assurance given by the Finance Minister.
The Budget doubled Customs duty on gold imports to 4 per cent and levied an excise duty of 1 per cent on jewellery. However, one can import jewellery from Thailand by paying one per cent Customs duty. This was made possible by the free trade agreement signed recently with Thailand.
The industry has been demanding a countervailing duty of 6 per cent to protect the domestic industry.
The Finance Minister has assured to look into the import duty imbalance for jewellery imported under FTA from Thailand and other issues faced by the gem and jewellery exporters due to the Budget announcements, said Mr Jain.
“We expect this to happen when Parliament re-assembles after recess for passing of the Finance Bill,” he said.