India's love affair with gold tested as jewellers go on strike

Mumbai

India's thriving gold markets have gone strangely quiet. Shops are shuttered across the world's largest consumer after China and would-be customers are getting frustrated in a country that adores bullion.

"I will have to wait and see when the shops open next," said Ghevar Jain, who stepped out in Mumbai this week to buy 200,000 rupees (S$4,134) worth of jewellery for weddings next month. Instead, he had to return empty-handed as stores in the Zaveri Bazaar were not trading. "I didn't know about the strike."

Mr Jain had walked into a dispute that erupted this week between the nation's thousands of jewellers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Intent on boosting revenue as he reshapes Asia's third largest economy, Mr Modi wants to impose a one per cent excise duty on jewellery produced and sold within the country, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the move in the budget on Monday. By Wednesday, members of the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation, which represents jewell…