Jewellers’ strike: Jaitley rules out rollback of 1% excise duty

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday ruled out rollback of the 1 per cent excise on non-silver jewellery, saying the move is aimed to alligning gold with GST. 

"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. 

At the same time, 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.