The preview edition of the Mumbai Jewellery & Gem Fair (MJGF) began in Mumbai on Friday as a glittering extravaganza of precious stones and metals where manufacturers, buyers and bureaucrats brushed shoulders in a bid to brighten the shine of this business in the Indian economy.
The three-day B2B Expo, which has been organized by UBM India, is being supported by prominent jewellery associations including GJC, Mumbai Wholesale Gold Association, Surat Jewellery association, Gem & Jewellery Association Rajkot and Kerala Association.
A K Jha, Director-General of Foreign Trade and O/o. Additional Addl. Director-General of Foreign Trade Mumbai, fielded media questions about reducing duty on – and increasing quantum above 1,000 kgs of — gold imports by emphasizing that the Finance Ministry and the Government are working on it.
“Gold imports have increased and we are focusing on checks and balances in this regard to find out why this is happening. Gold prices are rising due to smuggling. The diamond industry is seeing a negative impact after the Nirav Modi incident but gold is witnessing a good business,” Jha said, adding that there is need to ensure that genuine and artificial diamonds are not mixed during sales.
“FOREX volatility depends on external and internal reasons alongside demand/supply, and the rupee is depreciating due to the dollar and oil prices, besides the Indian economy facing employment problems. However, the jewellery sector is doing quite well and contributing to the country’s GDP also while boosting FOREX whose volatility is not permanent,” he said while replying to media questions.
Noting that the gem and jewellery industry played an integral role in the Indian economy, Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, UBM India, said that with the industry having gone through volatile times through the past few years, the Government is expected to come up with a comprehensive gold policy that includes promoting upscale infrastructure, complying with global standards and the possibility of reducing import duties on gold from 10% to 4% to create ease of doing business for jewelers and to avoid any obstruction that could arise from tied-up working capital.
“The Mumbai Jewellery and Gem Fair has been timed perfectly for the industry to congregate near the year end and seeks solutions for challenges that the upcoming year might impose. As a gateway to the Indian Jewellery market, MJGF specially focuses on the bustling metropolis of Mumbai and surrounding states of Gujarat and Rajasthan that have a rich legacy of jewellery,” Mudras said.
The Expo is an excellent platform for jewellery wholesalers, retailers, importers and exporters, manufacturers, diamond, gemstone, pearly suppliers and traders, precious metal and jewellery mountain traders and suppliers, machinery makers and representatives of various trade and governmental organisations to meet under one roof, he said.
The India gold market worth is about Rs three lakh crore with 1,000 tonnes gold imports per year for domestic consumption, and India is the second largest market – after China – with around three lakh families depending on this precious metal’s market for their livelihood, sources said.
Santosh Savant, Forevermark Diamonds Pvt Ltd of De Beers Group, said that De Beers is the world’s largest mining group with less than one percent of world diamonds qualifying for its Forevermark brand due to strict standards that can even discover from which mines the diamonds have come.
“About 15% of our annual income goes to Botswana which has the largest number of De Beers mines. We are increasing our presence in India through awareness including in Bollywood as filmstar Aishwarya Rai is our representative,” he said while describing De Beers turnover at US$ 7.5 billion in 2018 itself.
The Expo is showcasing interesting articles made from precious metals that are popular in Indian wedding culture. Radhakrishnan Acharya of RK Jewel Tech highlighted men’s wallet made of silver and covered with gold, weighing 81 grams and costing Rs 21,000. Other popular items here include; silver waistcoats costing Rs 1.90 lakhs and silver/gold wedding turbans priced at Rs 29,000, Acharya said while pointing out that he is the only one globally making these costly articles.
The Gem & Jewellery Skill Council of India (GJSCI) – which is government-funded by the Ministry under the aegis of the National Skill Development Corporation — underscored its presence at the Expo by highlighting the fact that it has trained between three to four lakh artisans since 2012 through exclusive, free, short-term courses like “Rupantar” (for jail inmates including at Tihar jail where prisoners received certificates in manual “hand sketch designing” of 150 hours training for getting jobs on completion of their sentences), and “Vanika” (for tribal women and the first such scheme started in Palghar district of Maharashtra recently), said Balkrishna Pillai, Assistant Operations Manager, GJSCI.
“Besides setting up India’s first job portal called GJSCIjobs.com for this industry, GJSCI also arranges “Job Melas” for providing placement to skilled artisans through advertisements and contacting related companies for their participation,” Sachi Vaghe, Head, Administration, GJSCI, said, adding that one such Mela had been held recently at Ghatkopar in Mumbai that drew around 100 related industry artisans and many manufacturers.
