The nationwide strike by jewellers against the proposed 1% excise duty on non-silver jewellery has affected several other major stakeholders in the industry. Operations at hallmarking centres, which are a major service provider in the jewellery industry, have been entirely disrupted for almost a month now, as the indefinite strike by jewellers entered its 29th day on Wednesday.
“Before the strike, we used to work on more than 25 lakh pieces of jewellery in a month. Due to this indefinite strike, across India, hallmarking centres have made losses amounting to more than R6 crore,” mourned Harshad Ajmera, president of the Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres (IAHC).
Gujarat Gold Centre’s Suresh Kansara said the industry was entirely shut in the state since the strike had begun. He said, “We have no grievances against the excise duty. However, since we are a part of the jewellery industry and are dependent on jewellers, we also abide by their demand for its rollback.”
Speaking to FE, Ajmera stated that hallmarking centres also shared jewellers’ concerns regarding the imposition of excise duty, and the inspector raaj. He said, “The risk to transportation of jewellery will increase with the imposition of excise duty. Even if the government means well by imposing this duty, the excise officers might be corrupt and could take advantage of their position vis-a-vis the jewellers.”
The strike has made working conditions very difficult for hallmarking centres. “At a single centre, we have about 40 employees. We have managed to pay Rs 3.5 lakh as the salary this month, I don’t know how we will make payments if the strike continues for any longer,” said Ajmera.
“Our employees have been coming in for an hour everyday. There is no work at all, so we send them back. We still have to pay their salary, though”, Kansara said.
Hallmarking centres charge R25 per piece from jewellers, and pay 10 percent of royalty on that to the BIS. Ajmera welcomed the Bill passed recently by the Parliament which allows the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to make hallmarking of jewellery mandatory. “We have been asking for jewellery hallmarking to be made mandatory for years now. About 1,200 tonne of gold is imported officially into the country. Of this, only 500 tonne pass through hallmarking centres,” said Ajmera.