CHENNAI: Even as discontent grows among small players in the jewellery trade over the unwillingness of biggest players to shut shop to protest imposition of taxes and duties on the sector, an ugly showdown between the two could be brewing. Though senior members of the All India Gems and Jewellers Trade Federation (AIGJTF) refute such a movement, a humiliating gesture could be in the pipeline.The inability of the jewellery sector to unite in Chennai reportedly came to the fore at a recent meeting held in the city. The owner of a large gold store on Usman Road - of a recently-spilt retail chain - told his fellow members that his chain will not participate in the bandh. In response, other major retailers along the Usman Road - Ranganathan Street stretch made it clear that if even one of the shops opened for business they too would do so. This led some smaller players to repeat a humiliating gesture by small traders in Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar. The biggest store in the bustling market had refused to shut shop for the exact reason cited by the Usman Road chain.When all appeals to the 150-year-old retailer failed, small business owners reportedly bought sacks of rice and other food articles enough to last the staff of the store a week, and appealed to the giant to shut shop since food had been taken care of. Humiliated by the gesture, the Zaveri Bazaar major had shut shop and has stood by the community since then. “We intend to do the same to the store that is refusing to shut. They have openly told us that they will bribe the police and set them on us if we try any such thing. We are prepared to face it because this is a question of livelihood,” said the owner of a small jewellery business.
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