GJEPC will set up gems and jewellery CFCs, as projects of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, across the country, and as part of these efforts, the ground-breaking ceremony of the CFC at Bow Bazar, Kolkata, was performed recently
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has taken a host of initiatives at the grassroots level to increase the efficiency of and empower the MSMEs of the Indian gems and jewellery industry. Apart from introducing trade-friendly policies for the sector, the Ministry is also in the process of facilitating the industry through creation of infrastructure in the form of Common Facility Centres (CFCs).
As a part of that exercise, the ground-breaking ceremony of CFC, Bow Bazar, Kolkata, was recently held in the presence of Rupa Dutta, Economic Adviser, MoC&I; Pramod Agrawal, Chairman, GJEPC; Prakash Pincha, Regional Chairman, Kolkata, GJEPC; Senthil Nathan, Deputy Secretary, MoC&I; Sabyasachi Ray, Executive Director, GJEPC, and office-bearers of the Swarno Shilpo Bachao Committee (SSBC), among others. The CFC in Bow Bazar will enhance the productivity and quality of products, especially of the small gems and jewellery units set up there and in surrounding areas, by introducing cutting-edge technology in jewellery manufacturing to fringe karigars in the Kolkata gems and jewellery cluster. It will benefit nearly 1 lakh handmade jewellery workers in and around Bow Bazar, a major jewellery hub in Kolkata.
Setting up CFCs across the country to help the marginal workers upgrade their product quality and output has been carried out through the GJEPC with the help of Local Trade Associations (LTAs) of the respective manufacturing hubs. The Council has already set up CFCs at major diamond clusters like Amreli, Palanpur, Visnagar and Junagadh in Gujarat. These CFCs are already operational and have proved to be very helpful for process reengineering and empowering the trade, especially the MSME units, become export-worthy. The work for the jewellery CFC in Coimbatore is underway and is expected to be completed by March 2020.
The objective of setting up CFCs is to give small and medium jewellery manufacturing units access to a common pool of high-end and capital-intensive state-of-the-art machinery/equipment which is otherwise not affordable for individual units.
Rupa Dutta, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, ‘Exports of gem and jewellery accounts for $40 billion annually. It is one of the most employee-intensive sectors, employing more than 4 million people across the country, from backward sections of society. The industry has a huge potential to grow and reach the next level. Our target is to take exports to $75 billion by 2025. CFC is one of the initiatives in which our effort is to enhance the productivity and quality of products of our MSME units and make them contribute to exports. The concept of CFCs is ideal as small units can now get easy access to capital-intensive cuttingedge technology to process their products, which is normally beyond the investment capacity of a smallscale individual jewellery manufacturing unit-holder.’
Pramod Agrawal, Chairman, GJEPC said, ‘India is a leading player in the global gems and jewellery market. To sustain its leadership, GJEPC has been facilitating the industry, especially the MSMEs, who are the backbone of the industry, with modern machines and tools at affordable prices at CFCs. Currently, the artisans are manufacturing jewellery on a make-to-order basis for retail jewellers or wholesale manufacturers. The use of technology like casting technology, finishing techniques such as tumbling, magnetic polisher, etc., are found in only some of the units. Bench work is also carried out using old techniques. In tier two cities like Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Rajkot and interior villages, jewellers are still operating using the old technology, and this has affected the quality of the finished goods produced. Our effort is to give small and medium jewellery manufacturing unit-holders access to a common platform where they could benefit from the equipment globally used in the jewellery industry, thus improving their overall performance when it comes to manufacturing jewellery.’
PERFORMANCE OF CFCs
| CFC | Sq ft area | Beneficiaries | Diamonds processed |
| Visnagar | 2,398 | 50+ | 25 lakh |
| Palanpur | 2,600 | 166+ | 23 lakh |
| Amreli | 1,967 | 18+ | 6 lakh |
| Junagadh | 1,795 | 102+ | 4 lakh |
| Coimbatore | Likely to be completed by March 2020 |
The CFCs will empower the trade and increase overall productivity, yield and timely delivery. It will make the trade selfsustainable by offering all types of services under one roof to meet the requirements of their clients. CFCs will be instrumental in generating more revenue for SMEs and will be a tool for the socio-economic transformation of these regions.
The jewellery CFC at Kolkata will help the local handmade jewellery sector upgrade their value addition and compete with the best by taking advantage of this CFC. SSBC, on whose premises the CFC is being set up, will eventually run the centre to benefit the local workers. Other than SSBC, representatives from Howrah Jewellers Association, Calcutta Jewellers Association and Bangiyo Swarno Shilpi Samity were also present to witness this memonetous occasion for the local trade. As part of this visit, the team from the Union Commerce Ministry led by Rupa Dutta also visited the imitation jewellery cluster in Singur to explore its potential in exports from the region. The CFC in Kolkata is expected to be commissioned in April 2020.