Big jewellers begin to register with excise authorities

NEW DELHI: Leading names in jewellery industry — Orra, Reliance Retail and PCJ Jewellers — have come forward to register with the excise authorities, giving a boost to the government that has faced opposition to its Budget decision to levy 1% excise duty on jewellery.
The jewellery industry called off the strike on Sunday after keeping shops and establishment closed for 18 days. KJK Creations India, Sheetal Jewellery House, Anand Jewellers, Priority Gold are other key jewellery houses that have registered with the department. “Some jewellers have come forward…

We expect the momentum to pick up,” said a government official.

Besides key jewellery associations, a number of large jewellers had made representations to the government to roll back not just the excise duty but also the mandatory condition of quoting permanent account (PAN) number for transactions over .`2 lakh. The government has stayed firm on the proposal despite strong protests, saying that the move was in line with the proposed goods and services tax (GST).

However the government announced a series of steps to ensure that there is no harassment from tax officials. The Central Board of Excise and Customs sent out guidance note to field formations to ensure that the industry doesn’t face any harassment.

The board has instructed its officials that documents submitted to state tax authorities for value added tax would be accepted by the excise department as well and there would be no verification of stocks held prior to roll out of the new levy. Directions have also been issued barring any visits to the jeweller’s premises and the CBEC will follow a zero tolerance policy in this regard.

Further, exemption from excise duty up to the clearance limit of Rs 6 crore would be available to a jewellery manufacturer if his aggregate value of domestic clearances is less than Rs 12 crore in the preceding financial year. Artisans and job-workers have been excluded from this duty and thus are not required to take registration, pay duty, file returns and maintain books of account, the clarification said.