New Delhi: The first-ever two-day national summit (India Gold & Jewellery Summit) organized by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) with Lead Partner World Gold Council (WGC) over the weekend concluded on a positive note as the Hon’ble Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu and Commerce Secretary Ms. Rita Teaotia underlined the need of a policy framework for the growth of the industry. The who’s who of the jewellery industry who attended the summit highlighted the potential of the sector and urged for the need of a comprehensive policy on G&J sector with the objective to bring both organized and unorganized jewelers under one roof to boost India’s jewellery exports to a target of $25 billion by the year 2022.
Amongst others, the two-day conference was attended by Hon’ble Union Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu and Secretary Ms. Rita Teaotia at the inaugural session on first day (December 1, 2017) and Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Finance Secretary, on the second day (December 2, 2017) of the summit. Mr. Praveenshankar Pandya (Chairman, GJEPC) welcomed Mr. Prabhu, Dr. Adhia, Ms. Rita Teaotia, Mr. Manoj Dwivedi (Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry,
GOI ) in the presence of Shri Balram Garg (PC Jeweller), Shri PR Somasundaram (World Gold Council), Shri Anil Sankhwal and Shri Sabyasachi Ray (ED, GJEPC) and Shri K. Srinivasan (Convener, GJEPC). The conference was also attended by senior Government officials and foreign delegates from China, Turkey, OECD and Dubai.
In his address, Mr. Suresh Prabhu has said, “Government would work closely with all industry bodies and would come up with a policy framework which will make Industry to grow further. The Centre’s policy think-tank Niti Aayog has already set up a group to formulate such a policy framework. The objective is to focus on overall growth of the industry thereby boosting exports and creating jobs. I would like to urge the Council and industry players to come forward and conduct such common platforms to discuss and debate and form an action plan to have policies and the whole ecosystem to be global leader in G&J business. The ministry would back GJEPC to achieve PM Modi’s dream of India becoming the world’s largest G&J hub by 2022.”
“There is also a need to develop G&J clusters and asked the industry forum to involve state ministers and make them as partners for creating such clusters. Every village in India has a goldsmith. Then why don’t we have an institutional mechanism to utilize the skill-set of these abundance of human resource that we have. They can be nurtured with skill sets,” Mr. Prabhu said.
Commerce Secretary Ms. Rita Teaotia too said the gold duty issue needs to be addressed. Country’s gems and jewellery industry employs an estimated 20 lakh people. “To take this sector to the next level of growth, we now need a policy that is conducive to the sustainable growth of the industry,” Teaotia said at the summit, assuring the stakeholders of the government’s support for structural policy reforms in the sector. The Gems and Jewellery sector has huge potential in terms of developing designing, merchandising, packaging, merchandising and product development. This sector is truly a ‘Make in India story’ and it is essential to develop institutional assets required to develop for the growth of the Industry.
Responding to the observations made by speakers on a need of the policy framework, Dr. Adhia acknowledged the need of a gold policy and a Gold Board, but suggested that it was for the Commerce Ministry to take the discussion forward. He made three key observations, “Firstly, the gem and jewellery industry, as a large scale generator of jobs, is extremely important to the government. Secondly, the two major reforms undertaken in the last year, demonetisation and GST, have helped curb the parallel economy, and will benefit the legitimate trade across industry. Thirdly, the government is committed to helping grow the export trade and looks forward to the day when jewellery exports exceeded domestic demand.”
While responding to questions, he clarified that a review of the import duty on gold would only be possible once a clear trend emerges about GST revenue. Even as he pointed out that the imposition of 5% VAT on jewellery in Dubai would reduce the differential between prices in that region and India, he stressed that the government would keep in mind the role played by the jewellery industry in employment generation when it reviews the duty structure.
In his welcome address, Mr. Praveenshankar Pandya, Chairman, GJEPC, said, “We all appreciate the importance of bold policy measures, especially after demonetisation has brought almost all the transactions in the diamond industry into the formal banking sector, something we were not able to achieve in nearly four decades. We also urge the government to bring down the duty on import of gold from current 10% to 4%, this will curtail the alleged smuggling of gold in the country. We need better credit policy for availability of credit or working capital for the MSME’s in the jewellery industry. We need strong infrastructure like Jewellery parks, which will be a one-stop-shop solutions for all jewellery making needs and all permissions required will be under one roof.”
He outlined some of the areas where policy needed to be modified and clearly defined, appealing to the government to put in place a Five Year Plan for steady supply of gold to exporters; develop a clear framework allowing companies to take on job-work; strengthen manufacturing infrastructure through jewellery parks and CFCs, etc. He also asked for a mechanism by which NRIs or members of the Indian diaspora could make purchases within the country by paying directly in foreign exchange and treating such purchases on par with exports, and hence duty free.
Strengthening the argument for a cogent policy, Mr. Aram Shishmanian, CEO, World Gold Council, said, “Gold is intrinsic to India’s social and economic life and as such it has the potential to become a valuable national asset; supporting economic growth, generating employment and providing households with financial security, to this end, the World Gold Council is committed to supporting the reform of the Indian Gold Market, working closely with the government, with the trade and key stake holders. Central to reform will be the adoption of coherent policies in line with global best practice.”
In an important session on the second day of the conclave, a distinguished panel concluded that a Gold Exchange was extremely necessary in India. It would not only bring in standardization and a degree of price transparency, but would also create Indian price benchmarks for the global trade. All agreed that a starting point would be a clear cut regulatory framework; other details such as the type of products that could be traded, the logistics of deliveries etc could follow. Panelists from Dubai and Turkey aided the discussions by presenting the experiences of the exchanges set up in their countries.
Mr. K. Srinivasan, Convener JPC, GJEPC, said, “GJEPC is grateful to the Ministry of Commerce as well as Finance and Government officials for extending their assistance for the success of this first ever Gold and Jewellery Summit. I strongly believe that the summit, which brought together all stakeholders of the industry on a common platform, would evolve a comprehensive Gold Policy under one authority in order to bring the fragmented jewellery manufacturers into an organized one. The policy will also ensure transparency and trust amongst key stakeholders including consumers.”
The two-day conclave ended with an Open House where representatives of the different regional association presented their points of view on the discussions and the concrete steps that could be taken as follow up, with the discussion being guided by representatives of GJEPC, GJF and other trade bodies. A general opinion was that the conference would provide a new thrust to the industry at the local as well as at the all-India level.
The G&J sector employs over 2.5 million workers and contributes to 6% – 7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country besides being an important foreign exchange earner. Also, India is the largest consumer of gold besides being the largest player in diamond cutting and polishing. The summit addressed almost all critical issues with reference to correction of import duty, amendment of gold policies, setting up jewellery parks, common facility centres & gems and jewellery Universities across India for the training and development of gems and jewellery aspirants. The University will not only train the students but also impart managerial skills to them”.
Gold & Jewellery Summit was a first of its kind with a host of associations/brands supporting the event which included WGC as Lead Partner, PC Jeweller as Powered by Partner; MMTC-PMAP as Refinery partner; MCX as Partner Exchange; It’s My Name (PP Jewellers & Diamonds) as Hospitality Partner; DIL as Bullion Partner; Sequel as Logistic Partner; Fischer, Scotiabank and Edelweiss as Industry Partners; DMCC, GJF, India Bullion and Jewellers Association; Bullion Federation as Supporting Trade Bodies; Thomson Reuters; IIM, and India Gold Policy Centre as Research Partners.
