NEW DELHI -- The Indian jewelry industry has sustained a loss of around 300 billion rupees ($4.5 billion) during a 3-week long strike to protest government plans to re-introduce a controversial excise tax on gold articles.
Jewelers across the country launched the strike on Mar. 2 against a proposed 1% excise duty announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Feb. 29 in his national budget for the year from April.
