Inflation, not duty, to cut gold imports 10%

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Fintotal | 23-Jan-2013Reply | Forward The fundamental reasons for buying gold jewelry are rooted in Indian culture especially during weddings. Lot of alteration has happened to our traditions but gold purchase on the occasion of wedding has not changed much. Though the newer generation is not too fond of wearing or flaunting gold jewelry, the demand for gold jewelry has not gone down. We end up demanding 950 tonnes of gold every year.

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Anand R | 23-Jan-2013Reply | Forward ''''1.Will it really increase smuggling ?? if six percent is the gain - ts it risk free - the gains only after completing 17 odd consignments- till then the smuggler stands at capital risk. The profits are only after this ?? With the present vigilance and if the customs are serious - even one consignment of every seventeen is enough for the smuggler to go out of business. 2. Increase of duty is going to be passed on to the consumer. The industry is shedding crocodile tears for consumers. The same industry initially protested when gold was Rs 600/ gram with many sob stories of indian poor unable to get married with the price rise. Irony is the industry retailers went on opening chain of retail outlets with every price rise and stood to gain as they have rarely compromised on their profit margins. Gold price in 2005 was Rs600 / gram and now it is above Rs3000/ gram. Needless to mention that with the samel profit percentage the retailers stood to gain and the artisans were always X rs for every gram they worked and not in percentages. The general public money always got robbed with less purity metal which is the one reason the industry strongly objected to mandatory hall marking. The difference between the International price and to the Indian Public is always more than ten pecent even with zero duty. Hence the industry once again is misrepresenting. The psyche of india public have been completely exploited by the retailers with promoting gold as the only alternative and store of wealth with heavy jewellery 916 items .Instead if the country opens for light weight jewellery then this alone will bring down the consumption . The retailers wont be interested to sell light weight jewellery because their profits will correspondingly fall down. The Indian consumers are always taken for a jolly ride both by the international traders wth increase in prices and local traders with less content of gold than for what they are charged. Last but not the least - the industry is known for evading taxes. Go across to any outlet be it large or small- they will be too happy to give you jewellery without bill. Let the jewellers not pretend as if they are good tax payers. Once again let not the industyr or the retailer shed crocodile tears for consumers and instead let them reduce their profits by the excise duty component which is only six percent while the present profit margin of any retailer is above 12 percent in cash sales. God Save the Public from these greedy jewellers''''