It’s good news for jewellers and customers as the government has rolled back its budget decision to apply 1 percent tax on cash purchase of gold jewellery. The jewellers had earlier been on a 45-day strike after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech in February proposed 1 percent excise tax on non-silver jewellery. Successive governments have struggled to curb appetite for gold in Asia’s third largest economy, despite the imposition of a 10% import duty in 2013 and other restrictions. Annual imports of up to 1,000 tonnes of gold, accounting for about a quarter of India’s trade deficit, have also prompted the government to launch a scheme to mobilise a pool of more than 20,000 tonnes of the metal lying idle in homes and temples. The government imposed an excise duty in 2012, but was forced to roll it back after jewellers went on a strike.