Surat: The apex body of India’s gems and jewellery sector has predicted that the exports are likely to remain flat in this financial year due to weak demand in the overseas market and the Goods and Service Tax (GST) implementation in India.
In the recently published trade data for FY18, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) showed a decline of 10 per cent in the overall gems and jewellery export in the first six months, mainly on account of economic slowdown in the international market, demonetisation and the implementation of GST on rough diamonds as well as polished diamonds.
“We saw a decline of 10 per cent in overall gems and jewellery exports in the first six months of this financial year, mainly on account of economic slowdown in the overseas market, the introduction of VAT in Dubai and implementation of GST in July,” GJEPC chairman Praveen Shanker Pandya stated.
In the first half of the current fiscal, the polished diamonds export declined by almost two per cent in April-September 2017 compared to the same period previous year. However, the polished diamonds export increased by five per cent in September 2017.
[“Source-timesofindia”]