Indian Gem & Jewelry Exports Up 47% to $43.14B, Polished Accounts for $28.25B

GJEPC to launch a 'Made in India' marketing campaign

(IDEX Online News) – India exported gems and jewelry worth $43.14 billion during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, a growth of 46.9% over the previous year. Net exports of cut and polished diamonds totaled $28.25 billion, growing 54.9% in the fiscal year, according to figures published by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

Gems and jewelry accounted for 16.7% of India’s total merchandised exports. Indicating that the good news wasn’t over yet, GJEPC Chairman Rajiv Jain announced that gem and jewelry exports are expected to grow by 35%-40% in fiscal 2011-12.

Jain announced that exports of gems and jewelry to the U.S. had increased by 50.5% over fiscal 2009-10, signaling a strong bounce-back by India’s single largest gem and jewelry export market.

Interestingly, the single largest export market for Indian gem and jewelry products in fiscal 2010-11 was the United Arab Emirates, which accounted for 47% of the total. Hong Kong accounted for 22%, while the U.S. received an 11% share of the exports. Explaining this, Jain and GJEPC vice chairman Sanjay Kothari noted that Dubai had become a major trading hub, particularly acting as a staging centre for exports to Russia, Ukraine and a range of other markets that had high tariff barriers. The exports to Hong Kong were indicative of the Indian industry’s greater penetration of the mainland Chinese market, they said.

Jain noted, however, that the GJEPC wanted to increase direct exports to both Russia and mainland China. Towards this, it plans on holding this year buyer-seller meets that would target Russia, China, the U.S. and Europe. The GJEPC also planned to address the Latin American market by sending a trade delegation during the year.

The Indian industry is moving downstream in its product offerings for export. Gold jewelry - plain and set with diamonds and colored gems - accounted for 29.9% of the total value of gem and jewelry exports. Polished diamonds, however, at 65.5%, is still by far the largest share of exports.

Jain also unveiled a marketing campaign to be launched during the year. The campaign will promote the “Made in India” brand for gem and jewelry products. One of the GJEPC’s current goals is to make India a preferred destination for jewelry design.

In answer to a question, vice chairman Kothari said that the strong growth in diamond consumption in India had led the GJEPC to do away with any plans for generic diamond promotion within the country. Last year, with De Beers having withdrawn from generic advertising, the GJEPC’s Anant umbrella campaign for diamond jewelry had been the only one of its kind in the country.