Gems and jewellery exports dipped by 17.69 per cent in March to Rs 22,755.81 crore due to two per cent import duty on polished diamonds, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has said.
Exports during March 2011 stood at Rs 27,649.18 crore, the GJEPC Chairman, Mr Rajiv Jain, told reporters here today.
Meanwhile, in FY’12 there was a marginal rise in exports of about 4.64 per cent to Rs 2,04,823.66 crore compared with Rs 1,95,735.84 crore in the previous fiscal.
Exports of cut and polished diamonds witnessed a decline of 13.64 per cent to Rs 1,10,978.84 crore compared with Rs 1,28,514.06 crore.
Growth in the sector was mainly driven by gold jewellery, which registered a growth of 10.04 per cent.
Coloured gemstone exports witnessed an increase of 15.40 per cent to Rs 1,653.13 crore against Rs 1,432.54 crore.
Going forward, he said the sector is likely to witness 10-15 per cent growth in gold and other jewellery.
“But in diamond jewellery, we have to revisit our earlier estimate of 10 per cent as the trading has come down by 30 per cent due to the two per cent import duty on polished diamonds.
We will give our revised estimates after discussing it with the diamond panel,” he added.
Talking about rough diamond price, Mr Jain said it is likely to remain steady till September as goods from Zimbabwe have started coming. Prices have gone up by 30 per cent from last year as imports from Zimbabwe were banned.