India's gems and jewellery exports dip 9 percent amidst UAE slowdown

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Apr 27, 2018

India’s gems and jewellery exports have taken a hit as demand from the UAE market slowed down by 27 percent resulting in an overall dip of 9 percent in exports for the year 2017-18.
 

According to data by industry body Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of India the total gems and jewellery export for the year 2017-18 stood at Rs 2,64,131 crore as compared to Rs 2,89,207.47 crore in 2016-17.
 
The implementation of value added tax (VAT) by the UAE government from January resulted in drop in exports especially in the final quarter with exports to the country dropping 27 percent to Rs 66,863 crore during FY18, compared with Rs 91,459 crore in the previous year.

Hong Kong was the top jewellery importing nation with 33 percent followed by UAE with 25 percent and the US at 23 percent.
 
GJEPC chairman Pramod Agrawal in a statement said, “The gems and jewellery today contributes nearly 7 percent to the country's GDP and over 15 percent to the merchandise exports.
 
"India has become world leader in cut and polished diamond exports, polishing nearly one billion stones each year. With improvement in living standards, the sector is likely to grow at a rapid pace and, hence GJEPC intends to add 3 million more workforce by 2022," he added.
 
GJEPC vice chairman Colin Shah said, "The US imports 16 percent of its jewellery from India. We are making efforts to grow the demand for 'India Made' jewellery products in the established markets like the US, Hong Kong and China. We are exploring and penetrating new markets including Iran, Jordan, Turkey, Latin America, Russia and the South East Asia," he added.
 
"We spent USD 16 million in promotions of the sector in FY18, which will be further increased in this financial year. With all these efforts, we expect the exports to grow by 10 percent in FY19," he added.