Shri Lav Agarwal, Director General, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), has commended the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) for its export promotion initiatives, highlighting its customer relationship management (CRM) system, Exporter Mentorship Programme (EMP) and membership expansion efforts as practices that other Export Promotion Councils could emulate.
The commendation followed a presentation by Sabyasachi Ray, Executive Director, GJEPC, during a review of the Council’s export promotion strategy in New Delhi on 28 October. Shri Agarwal acknowledged the Council’s work in strengthening its member network and building export capabilities. He specifically appreciated its efforts to expand membership to around 11,000, with the objective of converting half of its members into exporters.
Shri Agarwal called for targeted action plans covering the 390 gems and jewellery clusters identified in the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) study. He also stressed the need for focused interventions in the 11 districts identified under the Districts as Export Hubs initiative, with measurable outcomes from each district-level plan.
Emphasising the need to increase value addition, Shri Agarwal observed that the sector had considerable scope to move towards higher-value products. He also noted that DGFT was working on moving restricted items to a whitelist as part of its efforts to facilitate trade and improve export processes.