While the exports of cut and polished diamonds from India have plunged in 2014-15, exports of gold and silver jewellery witnessed a significant jump.
As per the annual performance statistics released by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) for 2014-15, gold and silver jewellery segment were the best performers in the overall export basket by registering increase of 18 per cent and 40 per cent respectively compared to previous year.
The gold jewellery export for FY15 stood at 9.8 billion US dollar against 8.3 billion US dollar last year, while 2 billion US dollar worth silver jewellery was exported compared to 1.4 billion US dollar in previous year.
The GJEPC attributed the growth in the jewellery export to the design and manufacturing excellence of the Indian industry.
“Our initiatives are aimed at promoting international as well as domestic trade in India. Some of the initiatives included jewellery shows in India and abroad to attract the foreign consumers on the gold and silver jewellery manufactured in India,” chairman of GJEPC, Vipul Shah said.
On the other hand, export of cut and polished diamonds registered a 5.46 per cent decline in the exports in 2014-15 at 23 billion US dollar compared to 24.4 billion US dollar last year.
This can be attributed to the decline in volume terms of the gross import of rough diamonds at 1,473.41 lakh carats during FY15 a decline of 9.06 per cent against imports at 1,620.17 lakhs carats during corresponding period last fiscal.
Pankaj Parekh, vice-chairman, GJEPC said, “We have been gradually penetrating the jewellery markets across the world. Still the Indian jewellery manufacturers are facing stiff competition from Thailand and China, but we are in a position to showcase our design and manufacturing skills to the consumers around the world.”
