RAPAPORT... The All India
Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) criticized new rules that slashed a
threshold above which a customer must show their Permanent Account Number (PAN)
by 60 percent.
New rules make the disclosure mandatory in jewelry purchases above
the rupee equivalent of $3,026 (INR 200,000), compared with a previous limit of
$7,564 (INR 500,000), according to a GJF statement December 18.
“This is not practical and will discriminate against 70
percent of the rural buyers, including farmers, as they are not under the tax net
and do not have PAN cards,” GJF chairman G. V. Sreedhar said
in the statement. “We urge the Government to remove PAN-card requirements in the
jewelry sector and maintain the status quo on application of TCS [tax collected
at source] on sales of bullion on INR 200,000 and on INR 500,000 of jewelry.”
Meanwhile, Titan Company Ltd, one of India’s biggest jewelry
retailers, said in a statement December 17 the amendments are aimed at curbing the
nation’s black market and broadening its tax base.
While the new limit on
PAN card disclosure could negatively impact cash sales of jewelry, less than 10
percent of Titan’s jewelry revenue in the recent past has come from products
costing between $3,026 and $7,564, it said in the statement.
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