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FORTNIGHTLY MARKET REPORT
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Mumbai Market Has Eye on Hong Kong Show - There are many overseas and domestic buyers in the market and there is a clear demand for goods, but transactions have been slowed considerably due to the differences in asking and offering prices. The 5-7% increase in the price of rough diamonds at the February De Beers Diamond Trading Company (DTC) sight is the main factor in sellers’ insistence on higher polished prices.
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Tax Assault Cripples Industry
These are taxing times for the jewellery industry. Nearly 300,000 jewellery retailers, hundreds of thousands of wholesalers and around 1 crore artisans in India have been on strike since March 17th because of the recently proposed budgetary taxes by the central government. The strike has entered the 19th day at the time of going to press and there has still been no relief offered by the government. But for now, the confidence of the striking jewellers has been bolstered as anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who has promised to write to the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on behalf of the aggrieved jewellers, and has also asked the industry members to hold peaceful dharnas and sing bhajans outside the homes of members of parliament in different states. The jewellers have planned a massive rally on April 7 in Mumbai.
Shanoo Bijlani and Regan Luis gauge the mood of the industry.
The ongoing pan-India jewellers’ agitation which began on March 17th against the ‘draconian’ taxes has paralysed the industry, and robbed over a crore artisans of their daily wages. The strike, which was already 19 days old at the time of going to press, has resulted in a loss of roughly R1,000 crore per day for the gem and jewellery industry, while the central government has been losing around R70 crore revenue per day. Though the central government has paid lip service about rolling back the excise duty, there is no solid backing to its claim and no sense of urgency to resolve the conflict. As of now, there is no end in sight, yet.
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