New Delhi: India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu on Friday made a strong point for setting up an institutional mechanism to drive up jewellery exports.
Exports of gems and jewellery had declined by 24.5 per cent to USD 3.3 billion in October, from 4.38 billion in the year-ago period.
Addressing India Gold Policy and Jewellery Summit organized by Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) here on 1st & 2nd Dec, 2017, Mr. Prabhu suggested that efforts should be made to bring in the best global designer in the jewellery sector to compete in the international market.
“… with the organised support that the industry as well as the government can provide, we can create an institutionalised mechanism that is necessary to increase exports of the gold jewellery,” the minister added.. Prabhu also favoured a suggestion of the industry to set up ‘gold board’, which “could be looked into”.
India’s annual export of gold and gold ornaments is only about USD 7 billion. Later in the day, while interacting with reporters on the sidelines of a retail summit, Prabhu said his ministry is in the process of drawing up policies for growth of different sectors of the economy.
“Aggregation of all these economic activities of different sectors will amount to increase in GDP over a period of time,” he said.
Mr. Prabhu is “very bullish” that in the next three years, “you would see India GDP numbers even far far better than what they are today”.
Arresting five quarters of deceleration in GDP growth, Indian economy bounced back from a three-year low to expand by 6.3 per cent in July-September as manufacturing revved up and businesses adjusted to the new GST tax regime.
The growth had slipped to a three-year low of 5.7 per cent in first quarter of the fiscal.
Ministry Seeks Review of Gold Import Duty
Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia made a case for reviewing gold import duty even as the gems and jewellery sector sought reduction in the import duty on the yellow metal to 4-5% from 10%, saying high levy encouraged smuggling.
“I think the real issue on why free trade agreements tend to be leveraged is the issue that we have been raising again and again and that is the [import] duty on gold,” Ms. Teaotia said. “This is a matter that the Government of India is seized of,” she said. “There are implications on both sides and I think we will have to work to come to some sort of balance on the duty issue. It certainly needs to be addressed because as long as there is arbitrage, there will be people who will try to game the system.”
She also said that NITI Aayog had constituted an inter-ministerial panel to consider the components of the new gold policy for India.
