Gems and Jewelry Industry in India: India is gaining prominence as the international sourcing destination for both high quality designer jewelry and mass market products. Companies such as Wal-Mart and JC Penney procure jewelry from India. Because of the presence of highly skilled, low-cost labor, India has the ability to design and make high volumes of exquisite jewelry at low prices. According to Credit Analysis and Research Limited, the domestic jewelry market in India is at $16 billion.  

The number of gold retailers has increased by 40% since 2000, with 150 domestic and 65 international established brands. India is the largest consumer of gold jewelry in the world, having bought 200 tons of gold worth $7 billion from the International Monetary Fund in October 2009.  

The city of Surat in western India , is home to  80% of the country’s diamond processing industry with an annual revenue of $13 billion.  

According to The Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council, the exports of gems and jewelry from India reached $2 billion in December 2009. The UAE, led by Dubai, is the largest destination for India’s gems and jewelry, accounting for 31 per cent of the country’s total exports, followed by Hong Kong (25%) and the US (20%).

The Indian government has provided the gem and jewelry industry with initiatives: 

• Duty incidence on gold jewelry exports has been neutralized to allow duty drawback on such exports

• A new facility to allow import of cut and polished diamonds on a consignment basis for the purpose of grading/certification purposes, has been introduced