GST Council meeting: Dealers in gems, jewellery out of money laundering act

With an eye on the Gujarat polls, the government has put gem and jewellery dealers out of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the GST Council meeting held today.

The move is certainly timed with a view to the wooing voters in the upcoming Gujarat assembly election as the development will definitely impact traders in Gujarat.  

By this move, the government rolled back its notification, according to which dealers in precious metals, precious stones and other high value goods were notified as persons carrying on designated business and professions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The Centre will issue a fresh notification separately after carefully considering the points raised during the meeting and by holding wider stakeholder consultations in this regard.

According to the notification which has been rolled back, any dealer of precious metals, precious stones and other high-value goods with a turnover of Rs 2 crore or more in a financial year was to be covered under the Act.

The limit of Rs 2 crore was to be calculated on the basis of the previous year's turnover, according to the notification.