Pushing Boundaries

The Mines to Market diamond conference held in mid-March saw a lot of serious introspection by the diamond industry on the issues of finance, transparency, compliance, generic advertising, synthetics and

more. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the gathering via live teleconference, asked the industry to get its act together and come up with a comprehensive and practical plan to take the industry forward. The PM also suggested that the industry should study different international markets and drive sales of India’s handcrafted jewellery that will appeal to global consumers. Paying heed to his advice, the GJEPC is now setting up an ambitious plan targeting $60 billion in exports by 2022.

The conference also received a wake-up call from advocate Rohan Shah, who noted that even if the

Industry is divided on every matter; it still stands unified on the issues of disallowing funding of terrorism and opposing tax evasion. If the industry chooses to ignore this warning, it would do so at its own peril, he warned.

Turn to the Cover Story for a detailed report on the proceedings. In a pioneering move, the GJEPC also inaugurated India’s first ever Jewellery Trend Book 2018 in collaboration with the National Institute of

Design (NID). The book was launched by union minister Piyush Goyal, who was the chief guest at the Mines to Market conference.

In what is perhaps a sign of the jewellery industry’s recovery after a few dull months, the two Hong Kong jewellery and gem shows, organised in early March by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), saw a record number of 4,480 exhibitors and a 6% jump in the number of buyers at more than 85,000, reports our special correspondent Cynthia Unninayar, in Trade Fair.