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New Delhi: Growth in India’s gems and jewelery exports over the past seven months is a rebound from the Covid-19-induced slowdown in 2020, with businesses still working to reach pre-pandemic levels, according to experts and industry players. told ThePrint.
However, gold jewelery exports continue to decline due to the “sluggishness” in markets like the Gulf.
Last week Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said That the export of gems and jewelery has doubled in the first seven months of the financial year 2021-2022 as compared to the same period last year. From April to October 2021, gems and jewelery exports stood at $23.62 billion, as compared to $11.69 billion for the same period in 2020 – an increase of 102.09 percent. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, this figure was $ 22.06 billion in the same period of 2019.
Colin Shah, President, Gem and Jewelery Export Promotion Council of India (GJEPC), said, “We are primarily witnessing a recovery from the Covid slowdown, a body under the Government of India that promotes the industry and its products. “There is excess liquidity around the world because of all the fiscal stimulus given by central banks everywhere. A part of this has benefited the jewelery market.
Bharat Malpani, founder of Jaipur-based BK Exports, which sells to the US, Australia, Europe and Japan, said: “We have seen a huge growth in revenue in the last seven months during the Covid period compared to a low base in 2020. But if we take the basis of 2019 or 2018 then we are ashamed of these levels. Gold jewelery in particular has been impacted.
Shah expects gems and jewelery exports to reach around $41 billion by the end of this fiscal.
Excluding 2020, the value of Indian gems and jewelery exports has been hovering around the annual figure of $35-40 billion over the past four years. They were around $40.9 billion in 2017-18, $39.7 billion in 2018-19, $35.5 billion in 2019-20 and $25.6 billion in 2020-21. GJEPC Website.
The US is one of the largest importers of Indian gems and jewellery, and is also a growing market for Indian diamonds.
Read also: High commodity prices, ‘low baseline effect’ – what is driving India’s record high exports
Decline in gold jewelery exports
Last week Goyal said The superior quality of Indian manufacturers has “enabled us to enter markets like Dubai-UAE, USA, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Latin America”.
US remains a major destination for India’s gems and jewelery exports – for accounting 45.7 percent until September 2021.
In July 2020, Washington ended preferential trade treatment for Hong Kong and increased import duties on gems and jewelery from 3.3 per cent to 7.5 per cent. At that time, GJEPC Said Given that China and Hong Kong are the fourth largest importing destinations for gems and jewelery for the US, after India, France and Italy, Indian manufacturers will benefit from this.
Apart from the US, there has been a “sluggishness” in other export destinations for India’s gems and jewelery products. According to experts, the slow recovery in markets like Gulf has adversely affected the gold jewelery exports.
“The main market for gold used to be the Gulf. Though it is recovering now, the last 12 months have been quite sluggish due to pandemic, oil related issues etc. We are hoping that 2022 will be better than 2021,” Colin Shah said.
Huge decline in gold jewelery exports 32 percent In April-September 2019, it grew to $3.9 billion as compared to $5.8 billion in the same period. Plain gold jewelery in particular fell to $858 million, a drop of more. 70 percent, between April and June of this year, compared to $2.9 billion in the same period in 2019.
Ricky Garg, director of Delhi-based Jisha Jewels, which sells gold and diamond jewelery to Europe and the US, said stiff competition from Chinese products could play a role in this.
“Right now, India is importing gold from China and Hong Kong as their product quality is much better than Indian manufacturers. We are lagging behind in terms of technology to make high quality products in India,” said Garg.
Meanwhile, silver exports are performing well, rising to approx. 140 percent in April-September 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019.
Surat’s diamond industry turns to new technology
Cut and polished diamonds are important to India’s gem and jewelery export basket, accounting for nearly 65 percent of exports in 2020-21
After hitting a historic low in February 2020, the category saw growth in the last quarter of 2020-21, resulting in a 12 per cent decline for the full year. Export of cut and polished diamonds in April-August period this year Enhanced It grew more than 33 percent to $10.5 billion in 2019 compared to $8.3 billion in the same period.
although it struggled During the pandemic, the famous diamond industry in Gujarat’s Surat continues to be the world’s largest center for cutting and polishing stones.
According to Jayanti Savalia, president of Surat Jewelery Manufacturers Association (SJMA), international demand for diamonds from India is increasing due to three factors – rising demand in the US, shifting of US importers from China to India, and new arrivals in places like Surat. Turning to technology to produce lab-grown diamonds.
Lab-grown diamonds are created using state-of-the-art technology that mimics the process of growing natural diamonds. They share the same carbon-based chemical makeup as mined diamonds and are not considered counterfeit.
“Surat factories are now being equipped with more and more machines for manufacturing laboratory grown diamonds. So there is now development for raw materials besides polishing and processing capabilities. This is sure to increase exports by two to three times in the near future,” Savalia said, adding that earlier, factories used to import lab-grown diamonds from countries like China.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Read also: Scientists are looking for diamond mines in India with the help of earthquake data
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