“My primary aim is to benefit the coloured gemstone industry in Jaipur”: Rajiv Jain new Chairman of GJEPC

Less than 24 hours after he was elected Chairman of the GJEPC, diamondworld.net met up with Rajiv Jain at his office in Jaipur to congratulate him on his new appointment.

The new Chairman of The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the first one to hold the post after the late Rashmikantji Durlabhji had the honour over 30 years ago, shared some of his future plans and perspectives, presented below in his own words.

“My primary aim is to do something that will benefit the entire coloured gemstone industry in Jaipur, and revive the manufacturing industry within the city. There are many projects that I will be focusing on.

“For one, I wish to set up a rough sourcing company for the coloured gemstone industry, similar to the Diamond India Ltd that has been set up by the diamond industry in Mumbai. We will be calling it CIL (Colouredstone India Ltd.). It will be a collective body to help the trade purchase rough gemstones directly from the different mines across the world. I am sure that this will boost manufacturing activity in Jaipur and help the trade to grow significantly.

“We are also aiming to set up a Gem Bourse soon. The government has indicated that it is ready to support us and the industry will put in every effort to ensure that it gets off the ground in the shortest possible time.

“Development of technology is also very important and we will strive to bring the best available technologies in the industry to India. I am appealing to all the players in the industry to unite and increase the level of technology in gemstone business.

“The diamond business is also a very important part of the industry and here too the need of the hour is to procure more and more rough. Council is working on this and next month we are hosting the Mines to Market Conference in Mumbai where senior representatives of all the mining companies and governments of the mining countries would be present. This will give us an opportunity to have detailed discussions with them and help them to understand how important India's diamond industry is.

“Finally, I would like to add that I am glad to have Mr. Sanjay Kothari as vice-chairman. He is a very experienced person and will be a big help to me in fulfilling my responsibilities.”