Jewellers say won’t slash prices for now

Even as the implementation of Local Body Tax (LBT) will bring down the retail price of gold and silver ornaments in the city markets,jewellers are opposing the move complaining that LBT provisions are “complicated and unjust”.

During the octroi regime,jewellers in the city used to pay 3 per cent tax on gold and silver ornaments. With LBT,the tax rate has come town to 0.5 per cent on the two metals. Thus,customers who had to pay Rs 900 on purchase of 10 gm of gold (worth Rs 29,610) will now pay only Rs 150. In case of a kilogram of silver (costing Rs 55,000) the tax will come down from Rs 1,620 to Rs 270.

“The new rules make it mandatory for us to keep and submit accounts of business activity to the PMC routinely. It has also been made compulsory for traders whose annual turnover is over Rs 1.5 lakh to register with the local body. The process is complicated. Also,the LBT should not be levied on sell it should only be concerned with the imported purchase,which is not the case in the rules made by the state government,” said Fatehchand Ranka,president of Pune Saraf Association.