It’s a matter of great relief not only for jewellers, who temporarily called off their 42-day old strike on April 14 against the Central government which imposed a 1 percent excise duty during Union Budget, but also for the buyers. With the onset of Catholic marriage season soon after Easter, it became a horrifying nightmare for those who needed to buy jewellery for their once in a lifetime event. The striking jewellers too had their foot in their mouth after calling for a total shut down resulting in heavy losses due to no sales. While a few branded jewellers kept away from this national strike, 80 percent of the jewellery shops across India remained shut for nearly a month-and-a-half.
Even as the strike has been temporarily called off after assurances from the Union government to have a relook into this matter, the jewellers associations pan India are demanding a complete roll back of the imposed one percent excise duty. Or else, the strike will continue from April 25. To pre-empt this, the Union government has already constituted a committee headed by the former Chief Economic Advisor of Central government Ashok Lahiri, to look into the demands of the jewellers. This committee is expected to present its findings and report to the Union government in 60 days. Jewellers are also against the advisory that there should be a mandatory quoting of PAN by customers for transactions of Rs two lakh and above.
Huge loss to the livelihood of small time artisans, goldsmiths and jewellers in Goa has taken place lately. The total closure resulted in one third of skilled workers in the jewellery sector who have left for their home town, jobless or switched to alternative means of livelihood, very similar to what happened post the mining ban in Goa. Demand generated due to the wedding season also could not be met and Goan jewellers suffered huge loss totaling to a few crores. Jewellery customers had to shift to different modes of gifting such as mobiles, watches for their special occasions which was a huge loss for the jewellery industry and a boon in disguise for the white goods industry.
In fact the jewellery industry in the country is largely un-regulated and primarily it is a family business percolating over generations. Quality control of this, especially in terms of carats in small towns and cities is dependent entirely on the ‘goodwill’ of the jewellers towards their customers. However, realising the drop in sales, coupled with the advent of branded jewellers, the industry has taken up measures to identify the black sheep in their trade and isolate them from their authorised and recognised forums and associations.
During this ongoing flash strike soon after the announcement of imposition of excise duty in the Union budget, the un-branded jewellers did try to mount pressure on the branded jewellers to join their fold. However, run by the corporate, the branded jewellers did not join the bandwagon, which in turn allowed the consumer, who was desperately looking out to buy jewellery for their events, find some precious metal. This shifting of customer base to the branded jewellers has also sent out signals to the traditional traders and business houses that quality control needs to be revamped so that the faith of their customers is restored.
The element of faith and risk too, in terms of buying jewellery, is uncomfortably on the higher side. Branded jewellers have pitched their presence by cashing on this ambiguous thoughts which keeps on haunting buyers while they spend their hard-earned money to buy once in a lifetime like purchase, for the ‘safety and security’ of the upcoming new generation who have little or no penchant for savings.
