Commerce Ministry forms panel to streamline gems and jewellery industry

To streamline the Rs 5-trillion gems and jewellery industry, the Union ministry of commerce announced a committee to draft guidelines for forming a domestic council.
 
Last year, the ministry had proposed to recognise the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (AIGJF) as a council for representing the domestic gems and jewellery sector. This seems to have been dropped.
 
The five-member committee is headed by Pramod Agrawal, chairman, Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council. It has members from the India Bullion and Jewellers Association, AIGJF and other trade bodies. 
 
Agrawal said: “Formation of a domestic council for the industry will help our unorganised and small scale units to scale new heights.”
 

The committee is meant to formulate the constitution and election rules of the proposed council, which the government hopes to announce shortly.
 
“My effort will be to take the maximum possible opinion, to make this council a body which belongs to all and works to fulfil the aspirations of all small and big associations from across the country,” said Agrawal.
 
“Our federation will continue to exist. We have a membership base of around 1,100 and represent the entire gems and jewellery industry. The formation of a separate council will focus on domestic issues faced by the industry,” said Anantha Padmanabhan, chairman, AIGJF. Normally, councils are set up for export promotion of products and services. The industry in India is dominated by entities from the unorganised sector that sometimes face big problems on gold availability, taxes and other trade issues.