An awareness workshop on Costume & Fashion Jewellery was organised by the Eastern Regional Office of The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) at Singur, Dist. Hooghly in West Bengal on September 6, 2019. The workshop was a follow up to the Exporter’s Meet held at Kolkata in July.

Nearly 70 manufacturers of costume jewellery from Singur took part in the workshop.

Regional Chairman, East, Prakash Chandra Pincha made a presentation on exports of costume jewellery, analysing the trade statistics, major buyers and export destinations. He talked about the large untapped opportunities that exist in this sector and how India could seek to penetrate these markets across the world. He advised the jewellers to make plans to export the costume and fashion jewellery made by the karigars/artisans of Bengal, who are among the best in the global markets.

Responding to a point raised by the participants regarding their inability to invest in the high cost machines that are required to achieve quality in casting and surface finishing, the Regional Chairman said that the GJEPC is in the process of establishing a Common Facility Centre (CFC) at Bowbazar, Kolkata specially for the artisans of Bengal. He said the CFC, which is expected to come up by January 2020, would help in this regard, and explained how such projects are a boom to the smallest of artisan units. Pincha also suggested that entrepreneurs in this sector could participate in the Jaipur International Show scheduled for 2020. 

Nagendra Mehta, Secretary, Imitation Jewellery Manufacturers Association also spoke at the workshop. He praised the craftsmanship of the artisans of Bengal and spoke in great detail about the costume & fashion jewellery segment and its future. He said that there was a proposal to rename Imitation Jewellery as Costume & Fashion Jewellery.

Mehta suggested that GJEPC should have a separate panel member in the COA to give proper representation to the sector, keeping in mind its high growth potential. He also encouraged the entrepreneurs of Singur to embrace new technology as has been done by many manufacturers in China, and emphasized that the sector should move towards machine made jewellery, which requires a separate CFC too.

Subsequently, Pankaj Parekh, Member, Steering Committee, GJSCI spoke about the schemes and skill upgrading training programmes of the organisation. He stressed that while artisans need recognition, they should also upgrade their skills, and requested the participants to join training programmes of GJSCI which would shortly be offered in Singur.

Finally, Shusanta Roy, Head of Manufacturing, Haritsons Designs Pvt. Ltd. Jaipur, shared his experiences and achievements during his 19 years in manufacturing Costume & Fashion Jewellery. He spoke about modern manufacturing techniques that could be used in this sector, and stressed the need for giving importance to processes such as Designing and Quality control.

A detailed Q&A followed, which helped to clarify many doubts and queries raised by the participants.

Kaushik Ghosh of GJEPC, ER advised the entrepreneurs of Singur to come forward and take advantage of the MSME Schemes, and membership services, benefits as available with the GJEPC.  He also thanked the associations and entrepreneurs of Singur for their support.