GJEPC Predicts Strong Year for Jewelry

RAPAPORT... India's gem and jewelry exports will grow by adouble-digit percentage this year, Pramod Agrawal, the newly elected chairman ofthe Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), predicted this week. The high quality of Indian manufacturing and arecovery in US and European markets will drive the growth, Agrawal explained atthe Signature India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) in Mumbai. The GJEPC isplanning to step up promotion in markets that lagged in recent years, includingin Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, he added.Turning to the local diamond trade, Agrawal saidthe GJEPC was lobbying the government to retract its decision to raise the importduty on polished diamonds from 2.5% to 5%. The new duty creates an uneven playing field that will hamper thenation's competitiveness with Belgium, Dubai and Israel, he has argued."We have asked the government to roll back theincrease of the import duty," he said at the event.He welcomed the January decision to cutthe goods and services tax (GST) on polished diamonds to 0.25% from 3%, saying it would encourage trading indiamonds in the domestic market.The Signature show, which ran from February 9to 12, signalled a positive mood in the local industry, with a recordpre-registered attendance of 11,000 visitors.