Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet the heads of jeweller associations on Friday to discuss a budget proposal to levy excise duty on unbranded jewellery, which triggered protests and dented imports by the world's biggest buyer of bullion.
Last month, Mukherjee said he would consider jewellers' demands to roll back the excise duty and provide an "acceptable" solution, adding that he would not reduce the import duty on gold and platinum.
Mukherjee will meet jeweller associations' heads on April 6, trade body officials said.
However, a final decision cannot be made before May 7, when the parliament is likely to consider the finance bill for fiscal 2012/13, which, if passed, approves the federal budget.
"The strike will continue until the excise duty is rolled back," said Kumar Jain, vice president of the Mumbai Jewellers Association, which includes 10,000 jewellers and traders.
Jewellers, who extended their strike for the 19th day on Wednesday, have been protesting the excise levy on unbranded jewellery of 0.3 percent, and a tax collected at source on transactions worth more than Rs 200,000.
The annual budget also doubled import duty on gold to 4 per cent.
The duties could dent India's gold imports by a third to 655 tonnes in 2012, allowing China to overtake it as the biggest gold importer.
Separately, the central bank has asked gem and jewellery exporters to submit monthly data on gold imports, in addition to banks and other nominated agencies, a move that would tighten reporting norms.
"They may be wanting to monitor instead of getting statistics at the end of some period...," said Nayan Pansare, a director with exporting firm Yes Jewellery.
"They would want to be more proactive in policy decision and might use this in deciding future policies for gold imports," said Pansare.
The Reserve Bank of India has also asked banks, the primary importers of bullion, to specify dollar outflows due to gold imports, the second biggest imports in the country after crude oil.
Copyright @Thomson Reuters 2012
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