India's plain gold jewellery exports grow 20.98% fuelled by international trade deals

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 10, 2023

Plain gold jewellery exports from India grew by 20.98% to total Rs 24,242.91 crore in the first nine months of the 2023 financial year. This growth was aided in part by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed between India and the UAE. 

“The overall exports of gem and jewellery during April to December 2022 show [a] positive trend but December export figures reflect the global headwinds faced by the gem and jewellery industry in terms of inflation and talk of [a] downturn in US,” said Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council chairman Vipul Shah, ET Online reported. “However, it is to the credit and enterprise of the Indian gem and jewellery exporters that they have been able to perform even in this challenging scenario.”
 
“The commissioning of India-UAE CEPA has resulted in exponential growth in exports of plain gold jewellery to make up for the gap in exports to key markets such as the US and Hong Kong,” said Shah. “Overall exports for nine months of FY23 (April to December) show positive growth of 6.28% in rupee terms. Plain gold jewellery exports have witnessed positive double digit exports growth of around 21% in both December 2022 as well as the nine months of FY23 period.”

Although plain gold jewellery exports grew in December, overall gem and jewellery exports in the month dropped by 11.25%. India’s cut and polished diamond industry has felt the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Rough diamond imports from Russia to India dropped by 40% in the first six months of the 2023 financial year and this led to an overall decline in cut and polished diamond and jewellery exports from India in December, 2022, according to the GJEPC.