The Central Government has removed the reporting requirement (for all gems and jewellery dealers) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The declaration was made during the GST Council Meet which was held recently.
It stated that the jewellery business will not be included in money laundering act and PAN card will no longer be mandatory for jewellery purchases above INR 50,000. This would imply that no such purchases will be reported to Financial Intelligence Unit. The earlier notification has been rolled back after this newly introduced declaration that eases situations for the jewellery dealers as well as customers.
GST Council Meet (Image Courtesy: The Financial Express)
It’s important to note that the gems and jewellery sector was included under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA) to keep a check on black money. Under this, the business jewelers were instructed to report about the customers making purchases of more than INR 50,000. Atfer this, the jewellery business had gone down by 50%.
Sarafa Traders Committee Jaipur’s President Kailash Mittal is quite delighted with the new notification. The demonitisation and PMLA announcement took a toll on jewellery sector after which jewelers demanded to scrap the business out of PMLA.
Now that the reporting requirements have been rolled back, it would give the sector the much-needed boost. Moreover, as the festival of Diwali is around the corner, people will be more willing to make purchases.
Furthermore, Laghu Udyog Bharti General Secretary Mahendra Kumar Khurana has also welcomed the move made by GST Council. He has expressed gratitude towards Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for implementing quarterly returns for small traders, postpone of e-bill, and increasing the limit of composition scheme.
