 "gold")
The country's gems and jewellery exports contracted by 0.75 per cent to $13.18 billion in April-August this fiscal as demand slowed down in major developed markets.
According to the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) data, exports stood at $13.28 billion in April-August period of 2017
The labour-intensive -18.sector contributes about 14 per cent to the country's overall export.
The decline in shipments is mainly due to steep contraction in the export of silver jewellery, gold medallions and coins, along with a rise in the return of consignments.
According to industry experts, exporters are optimistic that with the festive season on the anvil, things would start improving.
As per the data, silver jewellery shipments during April-August 2018 dipped by 88 per cent to $239 million.
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Similarly, export of gold medallions and coins contracted by 87.2 per cent during the period under review.
Shipments of rough diamonds too reported a negative growth of 5 per cent. But, exports of cut and polished diamonds grew by 11.5 per cent to $10.31 billion in the first five months of the fiscal.
Gold jewellery shipments almost doubled to $5.11 billion during the period from $2.70 billion in April-August last fiscal.
India's main export destinations are the US, Europe, Japan and China.
America accounts for about one-fourth of the country's total gems and jewellery exports.
During the period, consignments worth $3.5 billion were returned compared with $3 billion in April-August 2017.
China is the biggest competitor of India in the sector.
Imports of gems and jewellery too dipped by 4.27 per cent in April-August 2018 to about $12 billion.
Imports of rough diamonds contracted by about 7 per cent, while that of gold bar jumped to $3.7 billion during the period as against $1.3 billion in April-August 2017.
