India’s overall gross exports of gems and jewellery during the first quarter of FY2020-21 (April-June 2020) showed a decline of about 55% to US$ 2746.64 million on a year-on-year basis, according to provisional data released by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
India’s Q1 overall gross imports of gems and jewellery plummeted 75% to US$ 915.137 million, as compared to US$ 3,632.87 million for the same period in the previous year.
Declines were witnessed across almost all commodities owing to a complete or partial lockdown in all major export destinations.
Notably, silver jewellery was the only category to register positive growth in the three-month period, with exports of US$ 324.59 million, marking a year-on-year increase of 93%.
In Q1, the overall gross exports of cut and polished diamonds fell 50% to US$ 1,801.71 million as against US$ 3,580.22 million a year ago.
By contrast, the overall gross imports of cut and polished diamonds rose 22% to US$ 303.45 million versus US$ 248.45 million for the same period of previous year.
The overall gross imports of cut and polished diamonds in DTA declined 81% to US$ 32.71 million on a year-on-year basis.
The first quarter witnessed an 83% drop in gross imports of rough diamonds to US$ 481.65 million. The three-month period saw all the major trade bodies appeal for voluntary suspension of rough imports on 23rd April, 2020 and 19th May, 2020 to reduce inventory and manage cash flow at a time when businesses across the world were going through disruptions.
In volume terms, gross rough diamond imports in the first quarter reduced 77% on a year-on-year basis to 6.36 million carats.
Provisional gross exports of polished lab-grown diamonds fell 42% to US$ 38.99 million compared with the previous year.
First-quarter gross exports of plain and studded gold jewellery showed a decline of 79% to US$ 321.240 million.
Provisional Q1 gross exports of platinum jewellery dropped 59% to US$ 0.48 million (Rs. 3.66 crores) compared to the same period in the previous year.
Coloured gemstone gross exports in Q1 declined 81% to US$ 16.2 million versus the comparative figure for the previous year.