Jaitley Rules Out Rollback Of 1 Per Cent Excise On Jewellery

Notwithstanding demands by allies and opposition and protest by jewellery traders, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has ruled out rollback of the one per cent excise on non-silver jewellery, saying the move is aimed to aligning gold with GST which he hopes will happen soon.

"The day we get your (Congress) blessing and GST will be implemented. Then all goods will come under GST and so will be gold. This (one per cent excise duty proposal) is a preparation towards it," he said while replying to a debate on General Budget in Lok Sabha.

He said "this is not applicable on small traders" and it has been ensured that there is no harassment of jewellers by tax officials.

He said clear instructions have been issued to field officers that no inspector will enter the premise of jewellery makers because there is provision of self-certification.

The 1 per cent levy on non-silver articles would be only for jewellers with Rs 12 crore turnover and not small traders.

Jaitley said the budget proposal is for "principal trader" and not on jewellery maker.

Earlier, ruling NDA constituent Shiv Sena was among those who demanded that the excise proposal should be withdrawn.

Rahul Shewale (Shiv Sena), while making the demand, said the proposal should be put off till GST is implemented.

Participating in the debate, several MPs had raised the issue of jewellers strike and demanded withdrawal of the duty.

Jewellers have been on a strike since March 2 protesting against the proposed excise duty imposition on non-silver jewellery items.

Bad Loans
Referring to the issue of rising bad loans of the banking sector, Jaitley admitted that it is a big challenge and one has to think whether the legal system is a hurdle in the recovery process.

Taking a jibe at Congress member Shashi Tharoor, who initiated the debate on the Budget, Jaitley said it was not possible for the government to increase expenditure and maintain fiscal deficit without raising taxes. "But I found myself unable to understand Shashinomics".

India, he said, has been able to maintain 7.6 per cent growth rate despite the fact that word is passing through a difficult phase and has adversely impacted country's exports.

Describing his Budget proposals "realistic", the Finance Minister sought support from the opposition in government's endeavour to retain India's position as fastest growing large economy in times of global slowdown.

He drew comfort from the fact that Current Account Deficit is less than 1.5 per cent and WPI inflation during NDA government had never crossed 6 per cent and retail inflation is also low.

However, he added that India has its own areas of concerns as private investment is weak and government is trying to step up public investment and tried to resolve the problems facing various sectors, including steel, sugarcane, discoms, highways.

Jaitley said various infrastructure projects suffer from time delay and cost overrun and there is always a fear that if some steps are taken to resolve the issues CBI and CAG would come in and even PIL could be filed.

In this regard, he referred to the projects worth Rs 15-16 lakh crore which got stuck due to some problem or the other and no solution was forthcoming.

"We have amended the Arbitration Act and set up Commercial Division in High Courts. I have proposed a statutory mechanism for resolution of Public Contracts, he said.

It is necessary, Jaitley said, that the effort to resolve these problems are not looked upon with suspicion and there should be legal protection for persons involved in the process.

Jaitley stressed that NDA government's budgetary accounting is different and it has not cut expenditure to maintain fiscal deficit.

He said that allocation to states have been rising and Rs 9.11 lakh crore would be given to states in 2016-17 fiscal, up from Rs 8.11 lakh crore in current fiscal.

With regard to rationalisation of tax laws, Jaitley said in the last two budgets he has sought to dole out benefits to salaried class and lower middle class section of population.

(PTI)