The Ministry of Finance has assigned the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status to the gem and jewellery sector.
The AEO programme was introduced as a pilot project for export oriented industries to promote ease of doing business.
The AEO programme was instrumental in simplifying export operations across various sectors, resulting in significant time and cost savings for exporters. Despite being one of the largest exporters, the gem and jewellery sector was initially denied participation in the AEO programme.
However, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council made representation to various ministries to include the gem and jewellery industry in the AEO programme. Consequently, the Ministry of Finance included units from the gem and jewellery industry.
Various stakeholders from the industry showed interest in the programme to enhance international trade operations, strengthen supply chain security and improve global competitiveness.
Subsequently, 20 companies applied for AEO status. Based on these applications, as of now Asian Star, a premier diamond and diamond jewellery manufacturer has been granted AEO Status, making it the first in the Indian gem and jewellery industry to receive the certificate.
Inclusion of the industry under AEO comes when export of gems and jewellery last fiscal declined 14 per cent to $32.28 billion against $37.74 billion logged in the same period last year due to weak demand.
However, gold jewellery increased 17 per cent to $11.23 billion against $9.62 billion in the previous year. Plain gold jewellery exports to UAE more than doubled to $4.53 billion in FY24 against $2.18 billion in the previous year due to the free trade agreement signed recently. Markets of UAE and Bahrain accounted for over 85 per cent of plain gold jewellery exports.