A goldsmith engrossed in jewellery making at a unit.
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan
About 30,000 jewellers in Tamil Nadu will stop selling gold coins and not promote gold savings schemes and other promotional schemes in the State, said Tamil Nadu Jewellers Federation president B. Sabarinath on Wednesday (May 13, 2026).
Following the hike in import duty on gold jewellery and concerns raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on foreign currency reserves, the association said this is a measure that it has suggested to its members to help reduce gold imports.
“The import duty was raised overnight, and there are rumours that the GST may also be hiked. The Reserve Bank of India itself got 125 tonnes of gold last month. The jewellers have taken loans from banks, and repayments will be hit if demand is curtailed,” he said.
According to S.M. Kamal Hasan, president of the Coimbatore Goldsmiths’ Association, the retail price of gold rose by ₹1000 a gram on Wednesday as the government increased the taxes by 10%. The price of gold on Tuesday in Coimbatore was ₹14,400 a gram. It went up to ₹15,400 a gram on Wednesday. Of this, taxes alone constitute ₹3,000.
With wedding season peaking next month, we need to wait and watch how the spending will be, he said.
Coimbatore has nearly 35,000 gold smithies that employ nearly 1 lakh people.
Mr. Sabarinath added that sales has fallen by 60% over the last one year owing to fluctuating gold prices. “We have given a roadmap to the government to bring into the system nearly 25,000 tonnes of gold lying idle with consumers. The government should involve the jewellers for gold monetisation schemes. It should also immediately ban ETFs and digital gold sales and restrict gold importers, channelling agents and bullion dealers,” he added.
Published – May 14, 2026 12:37 am IST
