India’s overall gross exports of gems and jewellery dipped by 2.05% in October 2019, with growth in the gold jewellery segment making up to an extent for the continued large drop in polished exports, according to provisional data released by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

During October, cut and polished diamond exports declined by 15.39% year-on-year totalling US$ 1.95 billion during the month (October 2018: US$ 2.30 bn), gold jewellery (plain and studded) exports were up by 12.49% y-o-y touching US$ 1,066.99 million as against US$ 948.51 million in the same month a year ago, the data indicated.

Rough imports during the month fell by 19.61% to US$ 795.92 million as compared to US$ 990.09 million imported during the previous October. In volume terms, rough imports moved up marginally by 2.48% from 9.66 mn carats during October 2018 to 9.90 mn carats in October 2019.

Imports of cut and polished diamonds rose to US$ 165.13 mn in October 2019 from US$ 92.11 mn in the same month a year earlier.

Exports of rough diamonds totalled US$ 98.48 million in October 2019 as compared to US$ 133.02 mn a year earlier. Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at US$ 53.75 mn during the month as against US$ 26.72 mn a year earlier.

Imports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 9 mn during the month, down from US$ 10.37 mn a year ago, while imports of polished lab grown diamonds rose to US$ 22.84 mn in October 2019 as compared to US$ 5.67 mn a year earlier.

Exports of silver jewellery rose to US$ 176.54 million in October 2019 as compared to US$ 87.09 million in the same month last year.

Coloured gemstone exports rose to US$ 28.48 million in October 2019 as compared to US$ 23.53 million exported during the same month a year earlier.

For the first seven months of the current fiscal, total gross exports of the gems and jewellery industry stood at US$ 22.42 billion as compared to US$ 23.91 billion in the same period of the previous year, a decline of 6.25%. Imports across the sector during first seven months of fiscal 2020 were down 11.10% from US$ 16.12 billion last year to US$ 13.98 billion this year.

Polished diamond exports during April-October 2019 were down 18.31% to US$ 12.24 bn as against the US$ 14.99 bn exported over the same months last year, while imports of polished diamonds fell by 7.77% to US$ 793.83 million as compared to US$ 860.70 million for the same period of the previous year.

During the fiscal year to date, import of rough diamonds showed a decline of 22.15% to US$ 7.32 bn from US$ 9.41 bn a year earlier. In volume terms, imports fell by 9.90% from 94.31 mn cts in April-October 2018 to 84.98 mn cts in the same period in the current fiscal.

In April-October 2019, exports of gold jewellery (both plain and studded) rose by 2.84% to US$ 7.27 bn as against US$ 7.07 bn during the first seven months of the previous fiscal.

Exports of rough diamonds totalled US$ 713.46 million in April-October 2019 as compared to US$ 736.16 mn a year earlier, while exports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 6.77 mn in April-October 2019 as against US$ 5.87 mn in the same period a year earlier. Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at US$ 254.08 mn during the April-October 2019 period as against US$ 123.68 mn a year earlier.

Imports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 83.45 mn in the first seven months of the fiscal, up from imports of US$ 75.41 mn a year ago, while imports of polished lab grown diamonds rose to US$ 144.03 mn in April-October 2019 as compared to US$ 42.29 mn a year earlier.

Exports of silver jewellery rose steeply to US$ 737.74 million from US$ 407.90 mn a year ago, and Coloured Gemstones exports dropped to US$ 207.42 million in April-October 2019 as compared to exports of US$ 230.46 mn in the same months a year earlier.