The government recently increased the customs duty on categories of diamond such as semi-processed, half cut or broken, and cut and polished coloured gemstones to 7.5 per cent, from 5 per cent earlier, and increase in import of jewellery articles from 15% to 20% in a move to narrow the current account deficit (CAD).

Chairman of The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC),  Pramod Kumar Agrawal,  said, “GJEPC welcomes the step undertaken by the government to narrow the Current Account Deficit.” 

Welcoming the Increase of import duty on jewellery from 15% to 20%,    the GJEPC Chairman said: “This move would not only help the sector strengthen jewellery manufacturing in India but also give a boost to Jewellery exports from India, a step towards establishing Brand India jewellery”.

Agrawal added: “The import duty increase in cut and polished diamonds and processed coloured gemstones from 5% to 7.5% would increase the cost of business for the sector and impact exports and trade. India, a global leader in Diamond Processing, is not just a Hub for Processing roughs, but also caters to varied forms of re processing of diamonds and diamond jewellery. A substantial size of cut and polished diamonds sold to clientele world over, in the form of either loose or set in jewellery are imported for re setting in new design or products as desired by the customers.”

He continued to say: “There are broken, damaged sold goods and semi processed stones too, that form considerable part of import of cut and polished diamonds. This would lead to  practical inconvenience and limit the business of  cutting and polishing  impacting large part of the employment in the sector.”  

Further, the Chairman noted, “Other global Trading centres such as New York, Dubai, Israel would be at an advantage and the import duty hike could encourage malpractices in India.”

He went on to remark: “Processed coloured gemstones too form significant component for Jewellery, and hike in the tariff will hurt the business. GJEPC would represent the concerns to the Government to find a mechanism that would help minimize impact on the Exports.”

India is a predominant global leader in cutting and polishing of diamonds contributing 70% by value, 85% by volume and 92% by pieces. India exported a total of US$ 23 billion worth of cut and polished diamonds and US$ 9.7 billion worth of plain and studded jewellery in FY 2017-18.