GJEPC and Commerce Secretary hold meet with jewellers to boost exports

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Sep 8, 2021

The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council partnered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s commerce secretary B V R Subrahmanyam to train gem and jewellery exporters in Mumbai on how to boost exports.

 
On September 4, jewellery exporters gathered in Mumbai for a session of knowledge sharing with the aim of enabling businesses to increase their exports. Subrahmanyam told jewellery exporters that the government is in talks with authorities in the UAE, EU, and U.S. concerning trade negotiations and that a committee to advocate for gem and jewellery business interests will be formed. 
 
“India has a huge amount of vacant SEZ [special economic zone] land, around 10 crore square feet inside SEZ is idle, undeveloped,” said Subrahmanyam at the meeting, the GJEPC reported on its website.

“People do not have an incentive to be at SEZ. To help, we are trying to resolve issues around sales, reverse jobs, tariff areas and de-notifying certain parts of a SEZ building. We should have an interim agreement with Australia and the Dubai FTA by December, and a full agreement with Australia by the end of next year.”
 
The session also educated jewellers on goods and services tax, Reserve Bank of India regulations for exports, and customs policies. GJEPC chairman Colin Shah thanked the government for its support for the industry and announced that another meeting will take place in six months to review progress against export targets.
 
As part of the Union Government’s the “Atmanirbhar” vision to achieve $400 billion (Rs 26.6 lakh crore) in merchandise exports, it is focusing on the gem and jewellery industry and has identified the sector as having high growth potential.