India's gems and jewellery exports grew by 16 per cent at $28 billion last fiscal due to revival in demand in major markets as well as recycling of used diamonds, a top industry official said.
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.
The Surat diamond industry is likely to face a loss of around Rs 8,000 crores in next two months as Hong Kong, which is a major export destination, has declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, say experts. Hong Kong is a major business hub for the Surat diamond industry, but schools and colleges have been closed there till the first week of March and even businesses are seeing a dip in view of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
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Import of jewellery from Hong Kong attracts no duty in India, due to a free trade agreement.
Global jewellery major Tiffany is exploring the possibilities of setting up a processing unit for diamonds in India.\n\n
The exports have shown a fall of 6% during the first 11 months of fiscal 2006-07.
Indian jewellers such as Gitanjali Gems, Malabar Gold and Kalyan Jewellers have opened stores abroad to limit the slump in sales.
The government was close to imposing presumptive tax and the goods and services tax on the gems and jewellery sector
Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council on Wednesday said it expects to attract foreign direct investment worth $2 billion in this fiscal besides a growth of 20-25 per cent.
During 2012-13, the gems and jewellery exports declined by 9.4 per cent year-on-year to $39 billion due to sluggish demand in traditional markets.
India processes around 90% of the world's supply of rough diamonds.
Sonam Kapoor opened the India International Jewellery Week 2015 in Mumbai.
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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.
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.
Exports of gold jewellery fell 23.13 per cent to $1153 million.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, last month urged small traders to compete with foreign retail chains through e-commerce.
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.
The spotlight is back on the hawala trade in diamonds.
A sightholder is a company on the Diamond Trading Company's list of authorised bulk purchasers of rough diamonds.
For the last few days, Surat-based diamond exporter Savji Dholakia has been inundated with job applications.
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