The year 2018 brought in themuch-awaited respite from GST but the happiness was short-lived as the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced increase in the Customs Duty from 2.5 to 5 per cent on polished diamonds and precious gemstones. Despite this, the industry is hopeful of good business during the ongoing 11^th edition of IIJS Signature and 5^th edition of IGJME.

Inauguration ceremony of the show was held on 9^th February at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre. Arun Mehta, Chairman, Rosy Blue (India) Ltd blessed the occasion with his presence as the Chief Guest. Other dignitaries present at the ceremony were Kirit Bhansali, Shailesh Sanghani, Pramod Agarwal and Colin Shah.  

While addressing the industry, Arun Mehta talked about the immediate need to generate employment for the Indian gems and jewellery industry. He said, “In the entire diamond value chain, the mid-stream is suffering because of the increase in rough prices and lower demand for jewellery. The mining companies are making money and retailers are also to some extent making their profits, but manufacturers have been at the receiving end. So, the immediate concern for the council should be to generate employment and bring back the lost glory of the industry.”

Continuing with his vision for the Indian gems and jewellery industry, Pramod Agarwal said, “We want to promote brand India like Italy. India has the potential to become the jewellery hub and we need to upgrade our manufacturing standards and adopt the best in technology to be world leader in gems and jewellery. We will be opening more CFCs across the country to help our artisans. And GJEPC will be opening a help desk to help members increase their exports. We thank the government for hearing us out at the Gold Summit and introducing several favorable policies for gold. But we are also requesting the government to roll back the recently imposed increase in customs duty on polished diamonds and precious stones.”

This year, the show has witnessed 14,500 pre-registrations as compared to 11,000 last year. The Council expects the registration to be over 16000 by the end of the show. There are additional 200 stalls this year and the Council has added approx. 7000 sq mtrs of additional exhibition space. More than half of Hall No 6 is dedicated to machinery section as the Council intends to make Indian gems and jewellery machinery industry the biggest in Asia.