(IDEX Online News) – The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) is calling for the implementation of a Special Turnover Tax for the industry, with a 0.75-percent sales tax. According to a report in the Times of India (TOI), this will encourage companies owned by non-resident Indian to bring their capital back to India and to boost the country’s exports.

According to GJEPC chairman Praveen Shanker Pandya, the organization has urged the central government to allow the sale of rough diamonds at the SNZ in Mumbai by implementing a 0.25 per cent tax on sales turnover by foreign mining companies. “This would generate a new area of tax collection by shifting sales from Belgium, Israel and Dubai to India,” he said, as reported by the newspaper.

The latest figures from the GJEPC do not bode well for the strength of the local industry. Polished diamond exports fell 17.1 percent to $1.2 billion in December 2015, compared to $1.5 billion a year earlier.

Cut and polished exports fell by 14.63 percent to $14.79 billion in 2015, with rough diamond imports dropping to $10.12 billion, a decline of 23.97 percent.

The only bright spot was an increase in rough diamond imports, which increased 2.44 percent to $1.46 billion, up from $1.43 billion in December, said TOI.

Weak demand is expected to further affect the Indian industry this year.