Diamantaires from Surat joined a delegation led by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) that met Gujarat state Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel seeking relief from the inordinately high tax levels that would be imposed by the soon-to-come Goods and Services Tax (GST).
GJEPC Regional Chairman Dinesh Navadia, who led the delegation, observed that the 18 percent GST imposed on job-work production would wipe out small and medium operators. The total cost of the polished that these small operators produce, he said, carried a 70 percent labour charge component and such a high tax would impact earnings severely.
He further explained that the 3 percent GST that would be levied on the inter-state transfer of diamonds would have a destabilising effect, noting that shipping the goods from a production unit in Gujarat to Mumbai would attract a 3 percent tax, while the final onward sale would attract another 3 percent.
According to Navadia, the Deputy Chief Minister was convinced by the arguments put forward by the delegation and promised to take up the matter with the Union Finance Minister in Delhi.
https://www.gemkonnect.com/news/diamond-industry-seeks-gst-rollback-job-work-inter-state-shipments