Gold imports in India are estimated to have declined by 50 per cent to 30 tonnes during June-July.
High prices, individual investors and funds retaining their faith in gold as an alternate investment option also helped in improving the import figures.
Diamond prices fell about 30 per cent last year and had recovered by almost 15 per cent this year. Further recovery is imminent by the end of this year, said Mehul Choksi, chairman of Gitanjali Gems, a leading jewellery manufacturer and retailer, on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Mumbai on Monday.
Leading diamond jewellery manufacturer and retailer Gitanjali Gems Ltd is entering into real estate business through its maiden residential project at Borivli, in Mumbai's western suburb.
Come December, the Forevermark brand will take on India's leading diamond retailers
The spot gold was sold below the landed cost due to the weak demand for the metal.
Most economists say the impact on inflation could be substantial, considering that steel prices rose by over 9 per cent in the past year.
India retains its number one position in gold consumption in 2009, recording a total demand of 405.8 tonnes.
Initially, the industry thought jatropha could be grown on wasteland, without irrigation. They got it wrong, as good care is required for at least three years of the total plant life of 40-45 years, in which moderate irrigation is also required.
Diamond Trading Corporation, the marketing arm of the world's largest diamond producer De Beers, is planning to increase its intake by 25 per cent from its last year's sale of $3.5 billion.
Unperturbed by the recent arrest of 21 Indians for allegedly smuggling diamonds from Hong Kong to mainland China, Indian diamond jewellery manufacturers continue to actively explore the potential in the market of that vast country.
The National Spot Exchange Ltd has urged the government's Food Corporation of India to reduce the permitted price if it wishes wheat to be auctioned under the government's Open Market Sales Scheme.
With the start of rabi crop arrivals, the prices of agri commodities have declined in the past two months, raising hope that food prices will moderate in the weeks ahead.
Economists forecast the benchmark food price indicator to slip to 12 per cent in near future
Annual food inflation has picked up for the second consecutive week, with the food price index rising 17.56 per cent in the 12 months till January 23, higher than an annual rise of 17.40 percent in the previous week, data released on Thursday showed. What may, however, lift spirits a little is the fact that the prices of pulses, a major contributor to spiralling food inflation, have declined over 40 per cent from their peak, on the back of rising arrivals and imports.
In the past two years, high-end luxury watch brands have grown by 20-22 per cent, as against 7-8 per cent growth in low-end watches.
The country has generated an additional income of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) annually because of its higher yield, J N Singh, joint secretary in the Union textiles ministry, told Business Standard.
The Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the apex body set up by the Union ministry of commerce to monitor the jewellery business overseas, says it might call for pulling out of the diamond cutting and polishing business in China.
Diamond cutting and polishing industry had laid off over 20 per cent of its skilled labour (total estimated strength is one million).
Decline in planting of cereals across the world may lead to volatile food prices next year, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of United Nations has said in its latest report.
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