The recent Cabinet reshuffle by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has seen a change of guard at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MoC&I). It was this ministry which set up The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council way back in the late 1960s; and though the Council functions autonomously, it broadly falls under the aegis of the MoC&I.  

The Hon’ble Shri Suresh Prabhu, previously Minister for Railways has taken over the baton from the Hon’ble Smt Nirmala Sitharaman; who has now been allocated the portfolio of Defence, after her extremely successful stint at the MoC&I.

Extremely well-qualified, Shri Prabhu has done his LLB (Bachelor of Law) after getting a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is also an FCA (Fellow of Chartered Accountants); and was a practising Chartered Accountant with his own CA firm prior to joining politics in 1996.  

He has earlier done stints as Minister of Industry, Minister of Environment & Forests and Minister of Fertilisers & Chemicals.

Shri Prabhu has had a long and illustrious career in his professional life and has many publications to his credit. He was Chairman of several societies; most notably, of the Saraswat Bank, a premier co-operative Bank of the country.

Pic Caption: GJEPC Chairman Praveenshankar Pandya (left) with Hon’ble Shri Suresh Prabhu, the newly appointed Minister of Commerce & Industry