Felicitating leading players from the industry at the 45th India Gem and Jewellery Awards function held in Delhi yesterday, Chief Guest Hon’ble Union Minister for Railways and Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal called on exporters of gems and jewellery to enrol in the NIRVIK Scheme of the ECGC, even as he said that the government was examining the feasibility of allowing unused land in SEZs to be utilised for setting up of Jewellery Parks.

The minister also praised GJEPC's proactive role in taking up industry issues, and said that the sector has huge potential and with support from the Government should reach their global exports target of US$ 75 billion per annum much earlier than proposed.

Further Shri Goyal, also said that he is in talks with the Union Finance Minister and is planning to put across a proposal to create Jewellery Parks in unused SEZ, which can be potentially be used for jewellery parks for the domestic gem & jewellery manufacturers.

Elaborating on NIRVIK, also known as Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS), which was unveiled by the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) in September 2019 to ease the lending process and enhance loan availability for exporters, Shri Goyal said, “NIRVIK Scheme aims to increase exports and gives a series of benefits to gem & jewellery exporters. The NIRVIK scheme enhances accessibility and affordability of credit for exporters. It helps make Indian exports competitive and makes ECGC procedures exporter friendly, benefiting MSME exporters with a new scheme for reimbursing taxes, reduced insurance cost and ease of doing business.”

The scheme offers exporters multiple benefits, Shri Goyal explained, “The enhanced insurance cover will ensure that foreign and rupee export credit interest rates will be below 4 and 8 per cent respectively for the exporters. It will catalyze the banks to enhance the volume of export credit lending, especially to the MSME Sector with optimal pricing due to capital and risk optimization. Self-regulation will also help enhance credit flow and the industry can win the confidence of the banks. In the long run create your own pool of funds.”

Under the ‘NIRVIK’ scheme, the gems, jewellery and diamond (GJD) sector borrowers with limit of over Rs. 80 crore have a higher premium rate in comparison to the non-GJD sector borrowers of this category due to the higher loss ratio. The ECGC insurance cover provides additional comfort to banks as the credit rating of the borrower will be enhanced to AA rated account. The increased cover ensures that foreign and rupee export credit interest rates are below 4 percent and 8 percent respectively for the exporters. As per NIRVIK Scheme, the insurance cover guaranteed covers up to 90 percent of the principal and interest. The insurance cover will include both pre- and post-shipment credit. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) currently provides credit guarantee of up to 60 percent loss.

Speaking about the karigars or the craftsmen, Shri Goyal stated, “The gem & jewellery industry has a whopping 5 million workers who are the jewels of the country. Take advantage of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and help every karigar to own their house and make their dreams come true. Form more skill training institutes to upgrade the existing skills and encourage younger generation to enter the industry. Leverage more common facility centres”

Noting that the industry depends heavily on gold imports, Shri Goyal asked the industry to formalise a policy which will help bring household and gold reserves bring into the system or to banks thus reducing dependency on gold imports.

Congratulating the award winners India Gem and Jewellery Awards Piyush Goyal said, “I urge all the industry players to look-up to the winners and inspire from them to excel further. Industry over the years have seen a sea change and I take this opportunity to congratulate GJEPC for making the industry more robust in terms of corporate governance and more organised. The industry should produce more entrepreneurs and business leaders.  GJEPC stands firm for the industry growth and in consistent engagement with the government for formalising various policies, which has boosted the jewellery exports.”

Addressing the IGJA function, GJEPC Chairman Pramod Kumar Agrawal said, "India's gem & jewellery industry through GJEPC is working on the Prime Minister’s Vision of 'Make in India' and is constantly putting the efforts to achieve exports of US$ 75 billion and creation of additional two million jobs by 2025. Hon. Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal ji has always been the mentor and guide for the trade and has been instrumental in suggesting measures that help the trade grow to greater heights.”

The Chairman said that the industry was pleased to note that today DGFT issued public notice saying exporters can submit self-attested copies of shipping bill instead of custom attested EP copy of shipping bill. It is a big step towards ease of doing business.

Outlining some of the changes that have taken place in the last couple of years, he said, “Our industry is on the path of becoming more organized and GJEPC has initiated a number of self-regulation measures to achieve this goal. My KYC, Coordination Committee with bankers, making KYC compulsory for members are some of the measures. Also, we are trying to protect the social security of workers through various initiatives like Parichay card, Swasthya Ratna, Swasthya Kosh etc. GJEPC has also planned to create Model Workshop in each of the regions to ensure that workers work in good working conditions with best wages and latest technological facilities.”

Some of the current concerns of the g&j export industry were also highlighted. Agrawal said, “We are taking up the issue of taxation of our raw material with the Finance Ministry as the exports are going down due to lack of demand, and decrease competitiveness of our sector. This is due to the high import duty on Gold, Cut and polished diamonds and coloured gemstones. To decrease the dependence on import of Gold, we are in the process of drafting Mining Policy for our sector as told by you, we will be forwarding the same to you very soon. Another reason for decline in exports is the hike in cut and polished diamonds and gemstones. We request you to reduce import duty on Cut and Polished Diamonds and Gemstones from 7.5% to 2.5%.”

The GJEPC Chairman also drew attention to the need for certain reforms that would attract new investment in the sector. “Another issue which I would like to point out is that our country is losing on attracting the US and Chinese investment taking the advantage of US-China trade war due old SEZ policy which needs revamp in terms of property ownership, reverse job work and domestic sales. We need your urgent intervention in this aspect to make the SEZ policy more FDI friendly. Through your efforts a lot has been done in ensuring adequate credit flow from the banks to the sector. However, the prime issue of dollar credit, ensuring gold card scheme to the exporter of the sector has not materialized,” he said.

The dazzling jewellery awards night saw over 41 awards in different categories for their outstanding work and contribution to the gems and jewellery industry for the year 2018.

Eminent industry personalities like Ms. Nirupa Bhatt, Managing Director - India & Middle East, Gemological Institute of America; Mr. Uma Shankar Paliwal, Former Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India; Mr. Prabhakar Dalal, Former Executive Director, EXIM Bank were the Jury for the IGJA Awards 2018. Dun & Bradstreet, one of the world’s leading providers of business information, knowledge and insights is the Knowledge Partner for IGJA 2018

The winners of IGJA 2018 are as follows:

Pic caption: Hon’ble Union Minister for Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal lighting the lamp to inaugurate the 45th IGJA 2018 in the presence of GJEPC Chairman Pramod Kumar Agrawal (centre) and (from l) Shri Ashok Seth, Northern Regional Chairman; Ms Rupa Dutta, Economic Adviser, Department of Commerce; Shri Colin Shah, Vice Chairman; Shri Anil Virani, Convener A&F Sub-Committee; Shri Nirmal Kumar Bardiya, Regional Chairman Rajasthan; and Shri Kirit Bhansali, Convener Awards Sub-Committee