The first ever India Jewellery Excellence Symposium (IJES) 2020, organised by the Gem & Jewellery Skill Council of India (GJSCI), which opened in Mumbai this morning is one of multiple initiatives being taken by the country’s gems and jewellery industry as it seeks to increase its share of the global jewellery market, senior government officials and heads of a number of industry bodies emphasised during the inaugural session.

The two-day event will see a number of leading Indian and international experts speak on different aspects of technological and business excellence in a series of seminars for senior management and technical heads of India’s leading jewellery manufacturing companies.

Honours at the inaugural session were done by Ms Rupa Dutta, Economic Adviser, Department of Commerce, Government of India and Shri Manish Kumar, MD, National Skill Development Corporation of India, in the presence of Chairman of The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) Pramod Kumar Agrawal, Chairman of the All India Gem & Jewellery Council (GJC) N. Anantha Padmanabhan and Chairman of GJSCI Sanjay Kothari.

In his welcome address, Kothari described IJES as a “unique and unparalleled event which simultaneously focuses on achieving excellence in two vital aspects of jewellery manufacturing – technology and management practices”.

Kothari added that the GJSCI plans to make this an annual event and is, in a sense, taking up the baton from the renowned Santa Fe technology symposium which will be holding its final edition this year. He said it also plans to build in newer facets such as organising workshops where experts can provide intensive training and hands on knowledge to smaller groups at factory or area levels.

Pointing out that today there are only a handful of companies that are able to meet the rigorous standards needed to supply jewellery to world renowned brands like Tiffany and Cartier, he said, “The aim is to transform jewellery manufacturing in India both in terms of quality and best practices, so that India becomes the primary source of jewellery for such global big brands.”

In a similar vein, Anantha Padmanabhan of GJC stressed that there is a lot of scope for Indian jewellers to improve the quality of manufacturing and said IJES was a welcome new initiative. “We need to take manufacturing to the next level so that Indian companies can compete successfully with their counterparts from China and Italy, and ensure that our industry plays a role in making the vision put forward by the Honourable Prime Minister of developing the country into a US$ 5 trillion economy a reality.”

Pramod Kumar Agrawal of GJEPC began his address by congratulating the leadership of the GJSCI for its recent achievements such as improving its ranking among all skill councils in India and mentoring Sanjoy Pramanik who did India proud by winning a medal at the World Skills Competition in Russia recently. He said that the proper utilisation of technology will be extremely important if the industry has to achieve its target of taking exports to US$ 75 billion in the next five years.

“GJEPC with the support of the Ministry of Commerce has been developing infrastructure that will make latest technology accessible even to the smallest manufacturers through a network of CFCs. It also plans to develop jewellery clusters and create Jewellery Parks across the country,” he said, adding, “Training and skill development are necessary to complement this base, and we would like GJSCI to take up onsite training at such locations, and also conduct similar symposiums across the country and in key jewellery clusters too.”

Welcoming the new platform being developed by GJSCI to focus on excellence, Manish Kumar said that it is part of the wider effort transform the skill map of India. “NSDC is a private-public partnership that aims to equip the huge young population of our country with the skills for tomorrow,” he explained, urging individual companies to make use of the various schemes offered by the organisation.

“We are responsive to the needs of the private sector, act as development bankers providing loans for the enhancement and upgradation of skills, and have special projects like the Odisha filigree project domestically, or the collaboration with the government of Far East Russia, which can be beneficial to players within the gem and jewellery industry,” Kumar explained.

Citing the role that NSDC has played in partnering with the industry to develop a Centre of Excellence for training at IIGJ Jaipur, he invited those present to come up with similar proposals. “We need to think out of the box, even be adventurous in seeking solutions to problems related to greater utilisation of advanced tech and skill development. By working closely together we can definitely increase the contribution that your industry makes to the Indian economy,” he concluded.

Stressing that the gems and jewellery sector is an important part of the government’s vision of ‘Make in India’ and its aim to achieve the status of a US$ 5 trillion economy, Ms Dutta said, “The Ministry of Commerce and GJEPC have been working to create a strong manufacturing base for growth of modern jewellery manufacturing units that can cater to the world markets. We have developed CFCs and more are in the pipeline, and we have also supported the setting up of a Jewellery Park which will provide end to end solutions at a single point.”

Calling on the industry to move up the value chain by focusing on modern technology and upgraded skill sets, she added that the ministry was exploring new ideas and avenues for this. “The CFCs are planned as self-sufficient operations run by trade bodies, with the government only making a one time investment in machinery and equipment, and we are now studying how we can set up Mega CFCs for the major cities too.”

Another aspect Dutta stressed was the need to adapt to changing market conditions. “The industry must be flexible and innovative, and should reskill itself as per the demands of the market. For example, younger consumers across the globe are shifting to lighter jewellery in 18k and 14k, so our artisans and manufacturers need to relearn their traditional knowledge and equip themselves to develop such product lines.”

Dutta also said that MoC and GJEPC were planning other innovative programmes like Designer Fairs where India’s young talented designers could interact with their global counterparts and grasp international trends, and schemes under which international experts would work closely with Indian manufacturers, hand holding them at the initial stages to develop world class capabilities.

She reiterated that the Ministry of Commerce was ready to extend all support to such programmes and said that the industry should avail of benefits under TIES and MAI to boost its technology and marketing practices.

While delivering the Vote of Thanks, Rajeev Garg, CEO of GJSCI outlined a few concrete proposals that the organisation had placed before the industry, the NSDC and the government.  These included support to building platforms across the country through which ‘match making’ between young designers and manufacturers could take place along the lines of a recent project GJSCI had undertaken in Mumbai; integrating skill training modules and programmes into the Cluster Development schemes as well as developing customised projects for the native skill sets of specific clusters; and creating quality standards and training programmes to meet the massive demand for Hallmarking and Assaying centres that will emerge as hallmarking of gold jewellery becomes mandatory in the coming year.

The symposium continued through the day with parallel break away sessions on different themes related to technology and management practices.

Pic caption: Ms Rupa Dutta, Economic Adviser, Department of Commerce, Government of India addressing the Inaugural Session of the 1st India Jewellery Excellence Symposium. Also seen on dais (from l) Chairman GJC, N. Anantha Padmanabhan; Chairman GJSCI, Sanjay Kothari; MD, NSDC, Manish Kumar; Chairman GJEPC Pramod Kumar Agrawal and GJSCI Board member Shishir Nevatia.