ahmedabad with a view to curb tax evasion a panel of financial regulators had recently proposed making pan card mandatory for all gold transactions made by jewellers and not just for transactions above rs2 lakh local industry players however feel this will discourage consumers and prove detrimental to the industrypresident of the gems and jewellery trade council shanti patel is of the opinion that instead of serving the purpose of preventing tax evasion the move will rather lead to rise in unscrupulous businesspatel said the rural population invests in gold as a measure of future security while the move is wellintended its sudden implementation will hurt businesses and cause grave discomfort to rural people who do not have pan cards estimates by jewellers indicate that a significant 60 of their customers belong to rural areas for some jewellers the share of rural customers is higherwe will lose our customer base as many regular customers do not have pan cards said manoj soni a citybased jewellerhowever some jewellers believe that the move will benefit the industry at large in businesstobusiness transactions gst returns are mandatory and pan card is a must said ashish jhaveri a citybased jeweller most retail purchasers submit pan cards where required and with some effort the government can also bring rural purchasers within the ambit of the rule jhaveri saidpmla on jewellers will harm businessesthe ministry of finance recently issued a notification stating that all dealers of precious stones precious metals and other highvalue items whose turnover exceeds rs2 crore will now be brought under the ambit of prevention of money laundering act however industry players feel this will harm businesses which have already slowed down certain regulations under pmla will indeed harm our business customers most often tend to purchase gold for future savings with so many restrictions buyers will also be discouraged said jigar soni secretary ahmedabad jewellers association