The country's gems and jewellery industry has been severely hit due to a major slowdown in China and Eurozone, industry body GJEPC said today.
"The current massive downturn in China and Eurozone has severely impacted demand and prices of polished diamonds and finished jewellery.
"The industry may report 13 per cent decline in exports this year if the government does not support the industry," Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) chairperson Praveenshankar Pandya told reporters here.
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The industry is going through its worst time and India is not just losing out on exports and its leadership position in the global market, unemployment rate in the country is escalating drastically as well, Pandya said.
Overall exports from the gem and jewellery sector in India during the first six months of fiscal 2015-16 stood at USD 19.22 billion, a decline of 5.59 per cent over the USD 20.3 billion exported in the same period last year.
The exports of cut and polished diamonds during this period fell by 13.81 per cent to USD 10.42 billion this year from USD 12.09 billion last year, while the import of rough diamonds fell from USD 9.4 billion last year to USD 6.95 billion this year, a decline of 26 per cent.
Gold jewellery exports stood at USD 3.81 billion for the first six months of the financial year, down 23.1 per cent over the comparative figure of USD 4.96 billion in the same period last year, GJEPC said.
Due to sluggish market scenario and strong rough diamond prices, industry is facing prolonged absence of real profitability in business, he said.
For the first time ever, the import of rough diamonds, the only raw material required for diamond manufacturing, has shown huge decline of around 26 per cent during April -September 2015-16, in comparison to the same period last year.
