Two entities under the Union ministry of commerce report differing figures for import of cut and polished diamonds for the first eight months of the financial year.
Precious ornaments are estimated to become 3% costlier under GST
It may touch Rs 19,800 crore.
The fall in exports of gems and jewellery exports is mainly because of shortage of raw-material for jewellery manufacturing.
Blocked working capital worth Rs 1,500 crore, in the almost-defunct job work diamond polishing units, is expected to be released even as diamantaires will issue fresh orders to such units following the GST relief.
The US is the largest consumer of gems and jewellery in the world contributing nearly 40 per cent of global production. If India can tap the opportunity, its overall exports to the US could jump by 10 per cent to $ 11 billion this year.
Banks have become more vigilant over the past two weeks, with many more officials involved in loan approval and disbursal.
Round-tipping creates the opportunity for exporters to source funds at a much cheaper cost, which they divert to some other business.
There was a massive 24% decline in India's gems and jewelry exports to $2,321 million for September 2018 as against $3,053.38 million in the same period last year.
Since he lives locally, Harish Patel is one of the luckier migrant workers in Surat - in that his employer was able to squeeze in a single shift for him at the weaving unit in Kamrej in Gujarat - unlike others who went home for Holi and other festivals just as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was waxing and ended up stranded in local lockdowns.
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Imports of gold virtually stopped since July 22 after confusion on the new import rules.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, last month urged small traders to compete with foreign retail chains through e-commerce.
Most of the jewellers who had reopened their showrooms in confusion on Monday, kept shutters down today at Mumbai's Zaveri Bazar and several other places, demanding rollback of the proposal.
The 80:20 rule mandates importers to channel at least 20% of the import quantity for jewellery exports.
When the lockdown was lifted last year, Rasikbhai Kotadiya, who runs a powerloom unit in the Kim-Pipodara industrial area on the outskirts of Surat, was left with only four workers out of the 48 that he used to employ to run his 128 looms. Though the economy had been unlocked, his textile unit, and that of thousands of others, struggled to resume operations. By the last week of May, nearly 700,000 of Surat's 1.2-1.5 million migrant workers, left high and dry with no pay during the lockdown, had returned home. In Laskana, another textile weaving hub in Surat, the powerlooms were all but silent, with only 2,000 of the total 55,000 looms churning out grey cloth at a snail's pace.
Gold jewellery exports may decline by about 50 per cent in this financial year from last year after government restrictions reduced the availability of raw material, Gitanjali Gems Chairman and Managing Director Mehul Choksi said.
At 12-15 tonnes, the imports in September are estimated to be much lower than in the same month last year.
When overall gems and jewellery exports remained resilient so far this year on global economic uncertainty, shipment of silver jewellery witnessed a phenomenal growth so far this year.
Indian diamantaires are looking to go slow on rough diamond purchase during the remaining quarters of the current financial year, thanks to weak global sentiment.
Exports of gold jewellery fell 23.13 per cent to $1153 million.
The Bill to amend the Bureau of Indian Standards Act has been passed.
Official sources say that the finance ministry is aware of the possible spike in smuggling activity and has already asked intelligence agencies to tighten their vigilance and come down on the unofficial entry of gold into India.
Despite various challenges, the past year was a good one, says Bruce Cleaver, chief executive officer of the De Beers Group, the global corporation that has been the leading one in all aspects of the diamond trade for over a century.
Import of jewellery from Hong Kong attracts no duty in India, due to a free trade agreement.
All stakeholders in the diamond industry chain from mines to retailers have to follow a system of warranty under which they have to individually declare in the invoices they issue that what they have sold are not conflict diamonds.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked exporters to prepare a strategy for the next five years and start working in that direction.
Orders for the festive season abroad begin from next month.
Indian jewellers such as Gitanjali Gems, Malabar Gold and Kalyan Jewellers have opened stores abroad to limit the slump in sales.
The sector employs around 1 million skilled and unskilled workers directly and indirectly and decline in exports is a major worry for participants in the value chain.
The possibility of the slowdown affecting more players is greater if the industry doesn't get access to easier finance in the next six to eight months.
Providing relief to the economy from widening trade deficit on account of gold imports, the inward shipments of the metal slumped in December to 39 tonnes, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said on Wednesday.
There are around 6,500 diamond manufacturers of which Palanpuri Jains operate a mere 6 per cent, or around 400 companies. But they stand out for being highly interlinked through blood ties.
Indian jewellery is widely prized for intricacy and craftsmanship.
Concerned over decline in gold exports from SEZs following ban on its trading, the government has allowed units in these zones to export gold items after a minimum value addition of 3 per cent.
De Beers, the world's premier source for rough diamonds, has painted an attractive picture for jewellery demand.
A sightholder is a company on the Diamond Trading Company's list of authorised bulk purchasers of rough diamonds.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has liberalised the procedure for facilitating the import of rough diamonds (termed roughs in the trade).
The country's two biggest state-run lenders on Saturday pitched for treating a portion of their gold deposits as part of the mandatory cash reserve ratio (CRR) or statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), both of which banks consider as non-productive.
Three-four big gem and jewellery firms are showing financial weaknesses and might find it tough to withstand shocks
Govt clamps have resulted in 93% decline in April-November
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