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High jewellery prices putting you off? If you've been waiting for prices to cool off a bit, this Budget is not going to make you happy.
The import duty on gold, already hiked in January, has been increased to 4 per cent in this Budget. Import duty on platinum too has risen to 4 per cent.
Polished gemstones now attract an import duty of 2 per cent.
The import duty will increase the price of domestic gold. That means with the series of duty hikes, the price you pay is going to rise.
Let's put this in perspective. Say you have to buy one gram of gold. At current prices, the total additional cost due to import duty would be approximately Rs 55.
If you were to buy a gram of platinum, cost increase would be Rs 53. The cost increase in studded jewellery would be higher.
More increases
And that's not all. Excise duty was previously levied on branded jewellery such as Tanishq or Nakshatra only. You could then have gone to your local jeweller and shielded yourself at least a bit from the higher prices you would have paid otherwise.
From this Budget on, every piece of jewellery, branded or otherwise, comes into the excise duty net. But don't despair.
The Budget did provide a bit of respite.
Excise duties will be charged only on 30 per cent of the transaction value.
And finally, paying for jewellery in cash may not be such a good idea. Any purchase that exceeds Rs 2 lakh will attract an immediate tax of 1 per cent if the payment is made in cash.
This rule comes into effect from July this year.
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