GJEPC's MSME team investigates export potential of Hupari silver

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 4, 2022

The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council sent its micro, small, and medium enterprise department to silver jewellery hub Hupari in Maharashtra to investigate the city’s potential to become a silver export hub. 

The GJEPC is considering putting significant resources into helping Hupari turn from a traditional manufacturing hub into an export hub, the organisation announced on its website. The GJEPC’s MSME team recently conducted a mix of physical seminars and awareness sessions with organisations and businesses based in the Kolhapur district. The team also researched how to address the challenges faced by the Hupari silver industry to help it boost production and improve profitability. 
 
The GJEPC held awareness sessions on MSME schemes for bank finance and infrastructure as well as its own schemes such as its ‘Parichay Card’ scheme for workers, mobile app, and help desk among others. The organisation conducted a survey and found that at least one member of each household in Hupari’s manufacturing units is involved in the silver trade illustrating its economic importance in the area. 

Hupari is located around 20 kilometres from Kolhapur and is titled the ‘silver city of India’ due to its importance in the country’s jewellery industry since the 13th century. The city came into its own as a hub for silver in 1904 when jewellers in the city chose to focus on silver jewellery over gold. 
 
The region has four distinct styles of payals (anklets): Rupali, Sonya, Gajashree, and Gajashree chum-chum. Motifs that often feature in the region’s jewellery include mangos, bird wings, and conch shape, among others.