The Hindu Business Line : Eastern India to play big role in jewellery show

Eastern India, having notched up gem and jewellery exports of Rs 921 crore during 2005-06 (up to December 2005), has enhanced its participation in the forthcoming 23rd edition of India International Jewellery Show-2006 (IIJS) in Mumbai from May 4-8.

Some 16 jewellery outfits, up from the 11 in 2003 from Eastern India, with larger stall space, are participating in this year's edition of IIJS, billed as Asia's second largest B2B jewellery trade fair. It is organised by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of the Government of India.

5-day jewellery show

The 5-day extravaganza will showcase India's strengths in the gems and jewellery sector under one roof. There will be 1500 stalls spread across an area of 5 lakh sq ft, and some 3,000 international buyers are expected to participate. (Sale to end-users is not permitted).

Briefing newspersons on the various highlights of the show here on Friday,Mr Pankaj Parekh, Regional Convenor of IIJS-2006, said eastern region exports hadspurted mainly because of the new Manikanchan SEZ and improved infrastructure and training facilities for local artisans. He said India had the potential to emerge as the world's largest gem cutting centre.

He put the E-region export growth during 2005-06 at around 20 per cent against the national average of around 6.5 per cent. The US is the biggest buyer of Indian gems & jewellery items, including handcrafted jewellery, having a share of 28 per cent, followed by Hong Kong (21 per cent) and UAE (15 per cent).

Visitor's profile

The visitors' profile will include wholesalers of jewellery, agents, retailers, department store buyers (like from Wal-Mart etc) manufacturers, designers, Gemmologists, watch retailers and students. Exhibits will include diamonds, pearls, platinum, gold, silver, antiques jewellery, Gemstones like ruby, sapphire, opal, emerald, crystal, and equipment & accessories. The broad segments are loose stones section, mass produced items, couture section, plain jewellery, machinery section and allied section.

The GJEPC has also chalked out plans to set up a full-fledged training institute for jewellery artisans in eastern India, for which land of 1100 sq ft is expected to be allotted soon within Manikanchan SEZ itself.

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