Merchants oppose hike in gold duty

Members of gold, silver traders and pawn brokers association held a protest against increased duty on gold, in the last budget in Chamarajanagar.

Shouting slogans against district administration, traders downed shutters of their shops and took out a rally from Chamarajeshwara Swamy temple to district administration building. The duty on gold has been hiked from two to four per cent. This is sure to pose problems for traders who are working on thin margin in the field of gold trading.

Government should rethink its decision and reduce duty on a commodity such as gold which had already become less popular owing to its volatile market rates, they urged. Small time traders and gold smiths had already given up their profession since gold rates had touched the sky. Now, if all the profit margin has to be submitted to the government, traders cannot take care of their families, depending on this profession, they said.

Hence, they requested the government to consider reducing duty on gold in the supplementary budget. They submitted a memorandum through district administration.

Sangha members D S Venkatesh Babu, B R Ramesh Kumarand others were present.