Surat diamantaires may have to cough up over Rs 150 crore duty

The diamantaires in Surat may have to shell out over Rs 150 crore in duty for importing state-of-the-art technology for diamond cutting and polishing, reports say.

The customs and central excise department is planning to take on diamond units for the recovery of outstanding import duty on machines and equipment imported from Israel, Antwerp and China, report adds. The custom department has decided to collect import duty on the software used in hi-tech machines too.

The major players import computerised equipment for diamond planning, laser marking, spectroscopy, m-box planning etc, which require specialized software that had been developed by foreign companies. The imported equipment and machinery attract 22 per cent duty. Till now, the customs duty was payable on the hardware of the hi-tech machines, report adds.