Government seeks to increase gem and jewellery production, exports

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jun 15, 2020

The Central Government is exploring ways to increase India’s gems and jewellery manufacturing and exports. The Federation of Indian Export Organisation has presented suggestions for how to achieve this. 

The Union Government is looking at a number of suggestions to give a boost to the gems and jewellery industry as part of its wider goal of increasing India’s total exports, sources told the Press Trust of India. The government also recently named leather footwear and textiles as sectors to focus on as part of its ‘Make in India’ campaign to increase domestic production and exports.

“The industry has asked for increasing the subvention rate from 5% to 7% to protect the trade and forex [foreign exchange] earning of the country and for business fraternity to be competitive against other suppliers in the international market,” said the FIEO’s director general Ajay Sahai, the Press Trust of India reported. 

The FIEO has also suggested setting up more common facility centres and mega-CFCs to aid micro, small, and medium enterprises and allow them to use up-to-date technology. The FIEO has presented its suggestions to the Ministry of Commerce and added that the jewellery industry has huge potential to boost India’s overall exports and manufacturing output. 

Before lockdown, India’s diamond industry was already experiencing a slowdown which led to rising unemployment in the sector. As many families have less disposable income after lockdown, ‘non-essential’ businesses including jewellery brands could take longer to recover. In order to counter this, jewellers at a recent Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council webinar highlighted the importance of tying jewellery to emotions and family events. The GJEPC has also asked for government assistance for the jewellery sector to help businesses to recover from the challenges caused by lockdown.