Dun & Bradstreet India, through its publication ‘Indian Gems and Jewellery Sector’ under the D&B ‘Sectoral Round Table Conferences’ series, highlights the growth and performance of the Indian gems and jewellery sector over the past few years. Over the years, the sector has contributed significantly towards India’s foreign trade and employment generation.

The publication has brought forth insightful trends, which would be of particular interest:

• The gems and jewellery sector has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in India in the past few years. The sector has gained global popularity because of its talented craftsmen, its superior practices in cutting and polishing fine diamonds and precious stones, and its cost-efficiencies.

• India is also one of the largest diamond processor in the world and its artisans have specialised skills in processing small diamonds (below one carat). Around 9 out of 10 diamonds in the world are cut and polished in India. The country ranks among the ‘big four’ diamond cutting centres of the world, the other three being, Belgium (Antwerp), the US (New York) and Israel (Ramat Gan).

• According to the World Gold Council, India is the largest consumer of gold. In 2009, India’s gold consumption, (mostly jewellery) was down 33% to 480 tonnes as compared to 712.60 tonnes in 2008. India continued to maintain its second position in the third quarter-ended 2009 as well and accounted for 20.87% of the total gold consumed all over the world.

• The sector being highly export oriented, is a significant contributor to India’s foreign exchange earnings. Exports from this sector have occupied an average of around 17% share in total exports of India between FY00 to FY09.

• The growth in exports of gems and jewellery sector has been primarily driven by the Cut & Polished Diamonds (CPD) segment over the years. CPD exports grew from US$ 7.11 bn in FY03 to US$ 13.02 bn in FY09. Though, CPD segment has always held the largest share in net exports of gems and jewellery, the share of gold jewellery has increased in the recent years from 16.50% in FY03 to 32.47% in FY09. Over the years, the major export markets for the Indian gems and jewellery sector has been USA, UAE, Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel, Japan Thailand, with US being the biggest export destination for Indian gems and jewellery. On the import front, Europe has been the largest importing destination for india followed by Middle East, Oceania and Asia.

• The key challenges faced by the sector include unorganised nature, rising threat from china, exchange rate risk and rising competition form other luxury goods.