April-December gems & jewellery exports up 71% on-yr: Government

The government on Tuesday said that exports of gems and jewellery surged a whopping 71% on-year during the first three quarters of the current fiscal, over the same period previous year

With $28.9 billion worth of gems and jewellery exports already achieved during April-December, it has already surpassed $26.02 billion shipments registered during FY2 and is likely to better the previous high of $35.89 billion scaled during the FY20.

“In the month of December, 2021 alone, India exported gems and jewellery worth $2.99 billion, registering a growth of 16.38% over $2.57 billion in December, 2020,” commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

The gems and jewellery sector accounted for 9.6% share of India’s entire exports basket in the first three quarters, garnering the third largest commodity share.

Gems and Jewellery industry contributes about 7% of India’s total gross domestic product and employs the largest skilled and semi-skilled workforce of more than 50 lakh workers. More than 450 organised jewellery manufacturers, importers & exporters are based in Surat city of Gujarat, making it the jewellery manufacturing hub of the world.

Trade remedies
In a separate release, the ministry said that the Directorate General of Trade Remedies has issued 56 final findings since April, 2021 in Anti-Dumping, Countervailing Duties and Safeguard investigations, and 35 more investigations have been started since then, and more are in the pipeline.

All investigations are required to be concluded within 12 months and this period is extendable upto 18 months.

“However, the average time to complete the investigation has consistently been reduced by the DGTR and it usually endeavours to complete most investigations within 5-7 months for ensuring a faster relief to the domestic industry,” the ministry said.