Mubashir Alam Wani
Srinagar, Jul 24: With the slash in custom duty on gold and other metals, the investors and jewellers on Wednesday reacted positively with jewellers anticipating a potential boost in sales.
Many jewellers, said that with the announcement of slashing custom duty on Gold, silver and other metals, they are now hopeful of witnessing a boost in gold sales.
“Such level of scale down of rates for gold has happened after years. This is good for both consumers as well as for us. We now expect a rise in the gold sales,” said a jeweller in Srinagar.
Reacting to the announcement, a lady from Srinagar said that she did not know about the slashing of gold rates, but she was happy to know that the rates of gold had gone down.
“I don’t know exactly how much the price has been slashed on gold, but if it is so, it is very good. Maybe I can plan to buy more gold now,” she said.
Bashir Ahmad, President of gold dealers association Kashmir told KNO that the announcement is a welcome step that can pave ways for both investors and jewellers.
“It has been the long pending demand, and today we are happy that an announcement has been made in this regard. If people were earlier purchasing gold for Rs 10 now they will make a purchase for Rs 15,” he said.
Notably, the ongoing season in Kashmir witnesses too many marriages with the majority of the purchases happening for gold.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on Tuesday proposed a reduction in basic customs duty on gold and silver to 6% and platinum to 6.4%.
The reduction in the basic customs duty on gold, silver, and platinum has been a long-pending demand of the gems and jewellery industry.
On Tuesday, the government reduced customs duties on various products, including gold, silver, and critical minerals, to lower input costs, enhance value addition, boost export competitiveness, cut smuggling, and stimulate domestic manufacturing.
