Karnataka - Mysore   

Only jewellery sold as brands to attract excise duty

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, MARCH 15. The Chief Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs, Mysore zone, G.K. Pillai, has allayed the fears of jewellers and clarified that only jewellery sold under specific brand names will attract duty as proposed in the Union Budget for 2005-06.

Addressing a press conference here today, Dr. Pillai clarified that jewellery with marks or symbols affixed will not attract Central excise duty, and only those advertised as brands will attract the duty. His clarification comes in the wake of fears expressed by jewellers, some of whom observed a bandh recently to protest the proposed 2 per cent duty. He said details and clarifications may be obtained from the Department of Central Excise and Customs.

Last date

The Chief Commissioner said the last date for payment of Central excise duty and service tax for March 2005 is March 31. Arrangements have been made so that the banks concerned will be open till the midnight of March 31.

Commenting on the performance of Mysore zone, Dr. Pillai said collections stood at Rs. 3,367 crores up to February 2005 as against Rs. 2,562 crores during the corresponding period last year. Though collections have registered an impressive growth of 31 per cent over the previous year, the Dr. Pillai stressed the need to collect nearly Rs. 600 crores more in order to achieve the target of Rs. 3,963 crores fixed for the zone for the current fiscal year.

The Mysore zone, which comprises the commissionerates of Mysore, Belgaum and Mangalore, has a vast jurisdiction over 21 districts of the State. Mangalore-based Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) has been ranked the highest revenue payer for the entire zone and is expected to contribute more before the end of the current year.

He said the collection of service tax has shown an impressive increase of 58 per cent at Rs. 132.4 crores as against Rs. 83.65 crores during the corresponding period in the previous year.

He said that the Government has decided to exempt service tax assessees whose annual turnover is less than Rs. 4 lakhs but cautioned that they need to pay their dues up to March 2005 before going out of the service tax net.

With the exemption of service tax assessees whose annual turnover is less than Rs. 4 lakhs, the number of service tax assessees who will go out of the tax net is reckoned to be 3,809 of the 5,583 assessees under the Mysore Commissionerate.

Impact on revenue

Commenting on the impact of the budget on the collections of the Mysore Commissionerate for March 2005 and the next financial year, Dr. Pillai said revenue will decrease by Rs. 4.25 crores in March 2005 and Rs. 22 crores in the financial year 2005-06 on account of the decrease in the duty on tyres.

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