Trading in the diamond district of Mumbai was fairly brisk during the month of February, given that the SIGNATURE – IIJS Show was slated for the later part of the month. Domestic demand for polished goods was good but overseas buyers were fewer in the market during the month. This is attributed to the many back to back shows in BKK, HK etc., later running into March. The Indian polished dealers were, in fact, looking forward to the Hong Kong Show for some good business, despite the home show-SIGNATURE-IIJS, where polished demand is generally subdued and focused more on jewellery. Diamond production was quite high, in preparation for the ensuing Shows. With demand picking up from US for ‘smalls’ again, production of stars and melees was high throughout the month. Companies manufacturing caraters were busy, too, as it could be seen at the SIGNATURE Show. Demand for 5-, 6-caraters up to 15-carat stones were displayed, with exhibitors claiming good, serious enquiries coming their way. Rough trading picked up as a result of De Beers Sight price reductions of about 2% during the February Sight.
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of India announced the provisional figures for the month of Jan. 2015 indicating a 4.87 percent increase in the country’s cut and polished exports for month of Jan.2015 to $1792.68 million (2.78 million carats) as against $1709.37 million (2.64 million carats) during Jan ’14. Polished diamond imports recorded $ 372.70 million for Jan ‘15 as against $512.19 million for Jan ‘14, showing a decrease of 27.23 percent, which is attributed to the steps taken by the government to curb polished imports.
Rough exports showed a decline of 14.34 percent registering $106.45 million (3.02 million carats) for Jan ’15 as against $124.27 million (3.04 million carats) for Jan.14. Rough imports recorded $851.38 million (8.78 million carats) for Jan.’15 from $1257.03 million (11.95 million carats) for Jan ‘14, indicating a decrease of 32.27 percent.
Business combined with celebration and excitement continued to the month of February 2015 from the earlier months. Preparations which had started months ago for the Premium Show- SIGNATURE IIJS 2015 - picked up frenzied speed during February, as jewellery manufacturers worked overtime to get their specially created Collections ready for the Show.
The SIGNATURE-IIJS 2015 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre (NSE Complex) in Mumbai was a success, despite a sluggish market. The Show was inaugurated by Andrey Polyakov, Vice President, ALROSA, Russia with Ms. Shaina NC - Social Worker adding to the glamour quotient. And Shri. Kirtilal Doshi, industry stalwart shared his wisdom generously to the audience, which was well received by one and all. Day One of the SIGNATURE IIJS culminated in an event - ‘The Artisan Awards’ - at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai to celebrate the selected jewellery designers of India.
But the damp squib for the industry came in the form of the Union Budget 2015-16, which was announced at the end of the month and was a major disappointment. The G&J industry’s upbeat mood was dampened as the Budget failed to address major areas but offered some consolation sops including the development of sovereign gold bonds; Gold Monetisation Scheme and introduction of India made gold coins. Vipul Shah’s comment on the budget was: “As far as the G&J industry is concerned, our only reaction is disappointment! The FM has completely overlooked one of the most significant areas to curb black money and a long pending demand from the G&J industry to reduce the gold import duty. Smuggling of gold plagues the industry and leads to illegal trading and the duty reduction would have helped us control the issue to a very large extent.” Another area that was ignored is the reduction of import duty on machineries and consumables for the jewellery parks, for clustered manufacturing centres with common sharing facility, which the Industry was looking forward eagerly.
Though nothing was mentioned in the latest Union Budget 2015-16, the Indian industry now waits for the Government of India to go ahead faster regarding the proposed Special Notified Zones (SNZ), now that the official Indian delegation that visited Antwerp and Dubai has submitted its report to the Finance Ministry.
De Beers’ International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research (IIDGR) ran synthetic detection symposiums around India to demonstrate its technology to all elements of the Indian diamond community - an aptly timed step in the right direction, especially when synthetic and natural diamond mixing stories were doing the rounds.
So, India might have another diamond bourse in Surat someday, going by the enthusiasm seen during the Foundation Stone laying function by the Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Ben Patel in Surat at a special function on February 15. Does this mean a major growth of the Indian diamond industry is envisaged in the coming years?
Coloured stone business is making a quantum leap in recent years with fashion trends leaning towards designs in colour and texture in jewellery. The Indo-China Coloured Gemstone BSM held in Panyu, China during the month is reported to be a success. The buyers were mainly from various parts of Mainland China including Panyu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong etc.
While training diamond cutters and polishers for the home industry is an on-going process in the country, soon the artisans will be trained to acquire jobs overseas as well. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Surat Diamond Association (SDA) and the Gems and Jewellery Skill Council of India (GJSCI) for the purpose, which is a step to help skilled artisans to get jobs abroad, if they so desire.
Slowly but surely, the Indian gem & Jewellery industry is getting organised to become more professionalised in all areas if initiatives taken by the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) and the Gem & Jewellery Export promotion Council are anything to go by. GJF has introduced a first-of-its-kind Jewellers Identity Card (JID) - a unique and smart identity card establishing the credential and legitimate business undertaking of its member jewellers and their employees. The GJEPC of India has launched a major new CSR initiative - a Group Health Insurance Scheme under which member companies can enrol their employees and employees’ families at very attractive rates. It is reported that the scheme would be simultaneously launched in the state of Gujarat & Maharashtra as part of Phase I. Upon its successful completion, Phase II will be implemented in states like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and other clusters of the G & J industry.
GJEPC also organised ‘Design Inspirations’, its annual two-day workshop on contemporary jewellery design trends for India and key international markets at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai.
The workshop was conducted by well-known jewellery trends forecaster Paula DeLuca from Italy, covering the trends in India, Europe and USA. The two-day event had different sessions each devoted to a particular topic like Design, Diamonds, Coloured Gemstones and Pearls, Metals and Materials, Technology and Retail, with specialist panels in each session.
The Government’s announcement through RBI that nominated banks have been allowed to import gold on "consignment basis" and lend it to local jewellers brought good cheer to the jewellery manufacturing sector. But the recent Budget’s silence on import duty has dampened the mood of jewellers.
For some excitement for the month, we had the mainstream media go ballistic with the news that politicians, top industrialists and some diamantaires names have been mentioned in the leaked HSBC list of Swiss bank accounts. As usual, the news just fizzled out...
India overtook China as the world’s biggest gold consumer in 2014 as global physical demand fell. It was also expected in the report that prices that have declined for the last two years would bottom out this year. Chinese gold demand slid by more than a third last year to a four-year low of 866 tons.
Working results of a few companies were announced during the month. Asian Star Company Limited has reported that revenue (net of excise duty) fell 7.5 percent year on year to $79.4 million in the third fiscal-quarter that ended on December 31, 2014, while profit soared 26.4 percent to $1.9 million. Rajesh Exports Ltd. reported that group revenue jumped 148 percent year on year to $2 billion in the third quarter ended on December 31. The company’s standalone revenue rose 92 percent to $1.55 billion, however profit fell 15 percent to $12.6 million.
India’s major retailers are on a store launching spree of late. PC Jewellers, one of India’s leading jewellery retailers, plans to launch 200 new outlets by 2019, investing about US $ 242 million. The company plans to open 100 company-owned outlets and 100 franchised outlets in tier III and tier IV towns by 2019.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Indian Bureau, Rough&Polished
