The total business volume of gems and jewellery industry has posted a 30 per cent decline in terms of demand over the last six months, a top industry official said. 

All India Gems and Jewellery Domestic Council Chairman Anantha Padmanabhan said business has come down by 30 per cent volume wise in last six months and workshops were not engaged while some were shutting down operations.

"We have already approached the Prime Minister's Office, Home Minister (Amit Shah) and and Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) to reduce imports duty and goods and service tax... business has come down by 30 per cent volume wise in last six months," he told reporters.

Padmanabhan claimed that due to the increase in customs duty, goods and services tax there was an increase in gold smuggling besides customers were also opting to purchase gold from countries like Dubai, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore. He suggested that the government during the budget for 2020 may consider reducing the import duty from the current 12.5 per cent to six per cent.

Padmanabhan appealed to the government to constitute a 'steering committee' before coming out a notification making hallmarking of gold mandatory across the country from January 15, 2021.