Commerce minister Kamal Nath today said the recent decision by United States to terminate the generalised system of preferences (GSP) on jewellery and brass lamps could lead to job losses in the country."The decision is likely to lead to a number of jobs being lost in the jewellery sector in India, specially among vulnerable groups of society, Nath said in a statement released today.The US government has decided not to renew the competitive needs limitation (CNL) waiver for gold jewellery and brass lamps from India, thereby ending the GSP preference.As a result, exporters of jewellery from the country would have to pay 4% duty on their products. Export to US comprise one third of the total $5.21 billion worth of jewellery by India. Moreover, handicraft exporters, who are already facing lot of problems due to the appreciating rupee, are likely to be adversely hit because of the decision to terminate GSPs on brass lamps."GSP is a unilateral programme of the US government, and is not a result of negotiations with GSP beneficiaries. Hence, it is upto the US government to decide on how it wishes to administer the programme," added Nath.
