BUDGET BLUES: Women upset over tax increase for gold and silver

KAKINADA: The hike in the tax for gold and silver ornaments, effected in the Union Budget 2023 by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has upset women in general, as this would result in an immediate rise in their prices.

Women argue that gold ornaments should not be viewed as luxury items as “it is compulsory for women to wear them during auspicious occasions like weddings, birthdays etc irrespective of which religion or social class one belongs to.”

Also, for any immediate financial requirement, these ornaments can be pawned for loans with great ease. Gold ornaments help the farming community to organise urgent funds for their agricultural activities, it is reasoned.

 “The Indian women are sentimentally attached to gold and silver ornaments and it is also a mode of savings for them,” the women say.

“The gold and silver ornaments are the bare minimum requirements for performing a marriage. When a woman gives birth, gold and silver ornaments have to be presented to the baby as per our custom,” said Yerramsetti Durga Bhavani, a resident of Kanavaram village in Rajanagaram Mandal of East Godavari district.

Anasuri Manga of Panasapadu village of Samalkot Mandal in Kakinada district said the government should reduce the tax on gold and silver ornaments.

Yalla Durga Lakshmi of Sahapuram village in Pedapudi Mandal of Kakinada district also urged the central government to reduce the tax on gold and silver ornaments.