According to Sanjeev Bhatia, the hike in import duty on gold jewellery was an overdue move to rationalise the duty structure after the duty on raw material went up to 10 percent.
Strong consumer demand is expected in FY14 in spite of all the regulatory overhangs and other uncertainties. Consumer demand for jewellery remains strong, especially in wedding jewellery there has not been any impact
Sanjeev Bhatia of PC Jeweller feels tightening of gold import norms may hurt smaller traders as the increased procurement cost will be passed on to them.
PC Jeweller said "the board of directors has decided to shut down its manufacturing unit located at Selaqui, Dehradun due to operational reasons".