Jewellery shops to be closed in Hyderabad today

The local unit of the All India Gem and Jewellery Trade Federation and Pot Market Jewelers’ Association Tuesday have announced the one-day bandh of jewellery shops to be observed on Wednesday across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. 

Across the country, about 300 jewellery associations have called for the bandh against the government’s rule of mandatory permanent account number (PAN) card submission on the purchase of jewellery worth of Rs 2 lakh and above. These associations point out that only 22 crore people out 120



crore-only 18%- have the PAN cards and this makes their business unviable. 

They have pointed out that a lot of sections of the people such as the agriculturists, farmers, self-employed people were not provided with the PAN card. While a big chunk of people was still not included in the PAN card net, making it mandatory would be a detrimental step for the industry, which has 3.5% share in the country’s GDP, they complained. The jewellery shops in the city will remain closed on Wednesday i.e. February 10 because of the bandh.