Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Trade body for gem park in Tiruchi

Staff Reporter

"Budget did more harm than good"

TIRUCHI: The Tamil Nadu Synthetic Diamond All Manufacturers Association, Tiruchi, has urged the State Government to set up a gem park in the city for an assured livelihood for labourers and producers of synthetic diamond jewellery.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, its president, G. Tiruvenkadam, said that the government should also set up a state-of-the art research and development facility in the city to promote gem cutting trade in the State in general and the central region in particular.

He also wanted an information centre to be set up here facilitating access to information on the fluctuation of prices of synthetic diamond in the global market. The statement also pleaded for sanctioning a special subsidy equivalent to 30 per cent of the cost of the machinery being imported from foreign countries, and also for indigenous equipment.

It pleaded for concession in power consumption tariff for synthetic diamond units and fix it at Rs. 1.40 a unit.

It wanted an exclusive welfare board to be set up for the employees of synthetic diamond industry and exempt them from the purview of the Labour Act.

Traders to be hit

Reacting to the Centre's Union Budget proposals, the Association's Vice-President, R. Saravanan, and its advisor, R. Sridhar, said that it had done more harm than good to the synthetic diamond industry.

The downward revision in customs duty from 15 to 10 per cent on the import of finished synthetic diamond would affect the Indian traders.

"The proposal favours only globalisation," they said. The sale price of imported synthetic diamond would be far less than the locally made jewellery.

Further, the reduction in the customs duty on rough stone from the present 12.5 to 5 per cent would also be not much beneficial to Tamil Nadu traders, due to the value-added tax (VAT) system in the State.

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