Gems and jewellery industry needs to re-think, re-orient and re-design its practices and processes: Goyal

New Delhi [India], November 26 : Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that to become self-reliant, the gems and jewellery industry needs to re-think, re-orient and re-design its practices and processes which will lead to further progress.
According to a press statement from Ministry of Commerce & Industry, addressing CII's Digital Gems & Jewellery Conference on Self-Reliance in Jewellery: Mining, Manufacturing & Markets today, he said that Gem & Jewellery sector, through its consciousness about quality and price competitiveness, has been able to penetrate markets of USA, UAE, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc, and India is today well recognised the world over for its gem & jewellery sector, for the CHARM they bring to products, COST effectiveness and CONSCIENTIOUS work.
Goyal said that the Covid pandemic tested the country's resolve and the gems and jewellery sector had taken a big hit. But, he added, that the recent exports and domestic figures of the sector show that the industry has used innovation, ingenuity and adoption to the new normal, to make a comeback. The industry has shown its ability to face the problem in a resolute manner.
He said that our gems and jewellery industry has a mindset which is contemporary in nature, which adapts with changing time and leverages our strengths across the world. "If we build upon our integrity, I have no doubt that we'll be able to expand our markets and meet the world's needs from India. This will involve adopting technology, innovation and skill development," Goyal added.
Assuring the industry of complete support of the Government in their efforts to achieve the pinnacle of success and the industry's rightful place in global trade and in India, Goyal specifically pointed out that the government is happy to deliberate with industry to see how MSMEs can be supported in the sector. "Majority of players in the gems and jewellery sector are MSMEs. We need to come forward to augment their efforts in marketing, packaging logistic and access to low-cost finance. This can be done with joint participation and active involvement of associations from gems & jewellery industry. With the joint participation, we can support MSMEs in the sector", he added.
The Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, "Time has come for India to make in India but make for the world." He said that this is where partnership between Govt, industry associations, exporters & international organisations can work towards making India hub of this business worldwide. "In this new normal, we have the potential to engage with the world in a bigger way & improve our advantages in this sector.", he added.
He called the sector to adopt state of the art technologies, focus on skill development and upgradation, and attaining scale of production, so as to become the major player in the world market.
Goyal emphasised on enhancing quality and productivity, saying that the message of India's commitment to quality & high productivity in different sectors should be taken forward. He suggested that the sector next month may organize events like workshops, symposiums, webinars etc to propagate the message among the various stakeholders.
Reiterating the important role of the sector in the economy, Goyal said that the sector contributes about 7.5% of the country's GDP, 14% to the nation's exports and provides employment to over 5 million people. He said that the India International Jewellery show which was held virtually on the digital platform for the first time was itself a very big demonstration of our industry's ability to face any adversity.
Goyal said that various suggestions of the sector on duties, SEZs, refund of taxes, logistics, financing, etc are being looked into. He called upon the industry to deliberate on the steps that can help in checking the leakages, orderly behaviour of the sector, and ushering in the liberalization.