The GJEPC organised a meeting with its Global Partners on 12th August 2020 to have discussion widening India’s global market reach when it comes to exports of gems and jewellery. Among the 19 participants were the Council’s coordinators for key global markets including USA, Europe, Russia, CIS Middle East, Oceania, Japan and the UK.
The meeting was focused on Showcasing Advantage India w.r.t Indian Gem and Jewellery Sector as intricated craftmanship, creativity, range in jewellery products and sharing the expectations from the global partners in achieving the goal of the Council for the over all gem and jewellery sector.
Three ways shared with the coordinators were to a) Enhance Presence in the Existing Export Markets – USA, UAE, H.K ; b) Deeply Penetrate in Potential Export Markets like UK, Switzerland, France, Italy, Japan etc. and c) Attract the Overseas Investors to India’s SEZ/FTZ as these Zones in India are truly characterised with world class infrastructure, uninterrupted supply of utility services, simplified customs procedures and skilled labour among others.
Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC said, “Special economic zones (SEZs) account for 30% of India’s total exports of gem and jewellery products and due to their large-scale capacity, they can cater to the needs of the different markets.”
Convener of the SEZ Sub-Committee, Suvankar Sen conveying the message of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (meaning, the world is one family) noted, “India is prepared to ramp up services to global partners through exploring business/trade opportunities in different parts of the world.
He further added, global exports of gems and jewellery account for $628.59 billion and India has a 5.8% share and is the 5th largest exporter of gem and jewellery products.” Highlighting India’s possible advantages in the post-Covid world, Sen added that half of India’s export potential of $70 billion is still untapped and could be realised through global trade and investment partnerships.
Members of the meeting pointed out that India could now regain lost ground since its exclusion from the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
After the withdrawal of US GSP, Indian exports of gems and jewellery to the USA have gone down by $800 million over the past decade.
The business that had shifted to China may finally return to India as the duty rates pertaining to several gem and jewellery products prevailing in the US for China (18.3-28.5%) are relatively higher than for India (5% – 13.50%).
Global partners shared that global digital marketing campaign to show case ‘Advantage India’ to the World is imperative in the present times. Whilst boosting the Indian manufacturers presence on these platforms it is important that it is directed to a specific target audience example importers, wholesalers, major retailers as these are the ones with the buying power to do larger orders.