Jewellery stocks witness positive gains as 18-day strike ends

Over three lakh jewellers - from more than 300 associations - have been on a strike since 2 March. Jewellery stocks on Monday rose sharply by up to 8 per cent after jewellers called off their 18-day strike, and opened their shops demanding rollback of proposed excise duty on non-silver jewellery.

Jewellers on Saturday called off their 18-day old strike demanding rollback of proposed excise duty on non-silver jewellery after government assured them that there will be no harassment by excise officials.

Shares of Shree Ganesh Jewellery House jumped 7.85 per cent, Gitanjali Gems zoomed 6.62 per cent, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri surged 5.56 per cent, PC Jeweller climbed 5.3 per cent and Titan Company rose 2.1 per cent on BSE.

Over 3 lakh jewellers pulled down the shutters on 2 March after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery in the budget for 2016-17.

The 18-day long strike by jewellers is estimated to have caused loss of Rs 60,000-70,000 crore to the industry.

-PTI