The 35th Annual Awards for the Gem & Jewellery Industry will be presented by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) on Saturday, 20th September, 2008 at the Hotel Le Meridian, Chennai. The event will be all about celebrating the industry excellence in the categories of exporters, importers, banks, agencies & emerging exporters. Dr. M.K. Karunanidhi, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has kindly consented to be the Chief Guest at the award function. Besides him, stalwarts of the industry and dignitaries from Council would also be present including Mr. Sanjay Kothari, Chairman; Mr. Vasant Mehta, Vice Chairman; Mr. Kanubhai Shah, Convener Award Sub-Committee; Mr. Princeson Jose, Chairman, Southern Region, & Mr. Sabyasachi Ray, Executive Director.
The winners will be felicitated at this gala event amongst an elite gathering of government officials, industry leaders and socialites. The awards are all about pride, prestige, and celebrating industry excellence, especially to recognize the efforts of exporters. It will also showcase and acknowledge an array of outstanding work performed by the companies in the jewellery industry.
Commenting on the annual awards, Mr. Sanjay A Kothari, Chairman, GJEPC said, "These awards are an attempt by the Council to recognize and reward the huge talent that exists in the industry. GJEPC's continuous endeavour to honour the efforts of those exporters, importers, banks, agencies & emerging exporters whose collective hard work has enabled this Industry to reach its pinnacle. I hope that the uphill struggle of these exporters will set a benchmark for others to imitate and perform with zeal to take the Industry to the next level." He added further, "Though the award criteria remains the same as the previous years, we hope the participants perform even better the next year as this would benefit the gem & jewellery industry, enabling the country to earn even more valuable foreign exchange."
While appreciating the efforts of the exporters, one must give credit to the industry's growth over the years which can be attributed primarily to the continuous efforts of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). The Indian gem & jewellery sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Indian economy & is the leading foreign exchange earner. The gem & jewellery sector in India employs nearly 1.3 million people. Among this, the diamond industry alone employs 1 million persons.
The Indian Gem and Jewellery industry has witnessed a growth of 22.27% amounting to total exports of US$ 20.8 billion (INR 84,058.19 crores) in April 2007 – March 2008 against USD 17.1billion (INR 77,100.12 crores) in the previous year. The Gem & Jewellery sector accounted for 13.41% of India's total merchandise exports.
Total exports in the gem & jewellery sector have increased not at the manufacturing level but the upward trend is due to rise in trading activities. Export figures for the period April – August, 2008 are US $9.05 billion (INR 37,297.43 crores) as compared to US $7.7 billion (INR 32, 030.84 crores) in the corresponding period of last year. The categories in the gem & jewellery sector include cut & polished diamonds, gold jewellery, coloured gemstones & rough diamonds. The continuous rise in the Dollar value as compared to the Indian Rupee (US 1 Dollar – Rs. 47, as of today) would mean substantial increase in foreign exchange earnings for the country.
In midst of the recession in the US market & the corresponding decrease in gem & jewellery imports by USA, GJEPC organized 2nd Indo-US Jewellery Business Relationship Development Conference in Mumbai from September 8-9, 2008. The event ended with a positive feedback by all the Indian jewellery manufacturers who participated along with eight leading US retailers'. They all expressed satisfaction at the conference outcome. The first Indo-US conference, held last year, played a key role in bringing together buyers and sellers from the world's two greatest democracies. This year, the major thrust was on showcasing the top-of-the-line jewellery manufacturing capabilities in India which has helped our country to become a global sourcing destination.
The four-day event consisted of two days of panel discussions, keynote speeches and one-on-one meetings between US retailers/wholesalers and Indian jewellery manufacturers. The conference concluded with two more days for factory visits to closely understand the manufacturing side of potential business partners. The meet was designed to bring several sponsoring Indian manufacturers together with a group of participating US jewellery retailers in order to forge new business connections.
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The Indian gem & jewellery exporters are now looking to China for business including as a manufacturing base. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India (GJEPC) in association with Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) China, is organising the 2nd Indo-China Buyer Sellers' Meet in Shenzhen from 23rd to 25th September 2008. Shenzen is near Hong Kong as is known for its state-of-art Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
The meet is a platform for Indian diamond manufacturers to exhibit loose diamonds and explore the possibilities of forging long-term business relations with the Chinese Diamond Jewellery manufacturers and diamond wholesalers. Success of Buyer-Sellers' meet last year, ensured that new doors for business opportunities between the two countries were opened and the manufacturing and business capabilities of the Indian Industry was showcased. Fifteen major Indian Diamantaires and 200 Chinese buyers are expected to participate in this meet which will catalyze the growth of bilateral trade between two countries in the gem & jewellery sector.
GJEPC has undertaken several activities to promote the Indian Gem & Jewellery Industry in the domestic and international markets such as participation in International Trade Fairs, organizing delegations and Buyer Seller Meets etc.
A lot of emphasis is being given on the talent training and development to ensure development of contemporary and quality rich merchandise to cater to the changing demand of consumers and niche markets. Besides this Council's future initiative is to promote Indian jewelry to the end users in new markets like China, Middle East, CIS, Russia and to position India as a preferred hub for sourcing quality jewellery.
THE GEM & JEWELLERY EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCIL (GJEPC)
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council is an all India apex body representing more than 6,000 gem and jewellery traders from India. Set up in 1966, it operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India and elected representatives of the industry. The Council is a non-profit organization involved in promoting the exports of the Gem & Jewellery sector.