Business seen brisk at Mumbai IIJS show
MUMBAI, July 19, 2014 – Business was brisk at the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) and orders were expected to rise year-on-year, organisers said.
Retailers resumed purchases of gold jewellery once they understood that the Indian authorities had decided to leave the gold import duty unchanged at 10 percent.
“People were waiting for a duty reduction to be announced, and when it did not happen, people accepted the situation,” said Pankaj Parekh, Vice Chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC.)
The Indian trade had urged a cut in the import duty, but the new government of Narendra Modi has left the duty unchanged so far.
Jewellery executives said they believed that the duty was left unchanged because of concerns over the current account deficit.
Referring to the strong visitor footfall at IIJS, another senior GJEPC official said he expected orders at the 2014 show to be up 15 percent year-on-year.
Retail buyers tend to re-stock gold jewellery when they arrive at IIJS, before ordering gemstone and diamond jewellery, organisers said.
IIJS is seeing a steady flow of some 10,000-12,000 visitors daily, many of them retailers from across India, re-stocking gold jewellery before the religious festivals.
Retail buyers also came from a number of other countries, including Chinese buyers, many of them seeking loose diamonds, and buyers from the UK, Bangladesh and Nepal.
India is one of the top three manufactured gold jewellery exporting countries in the world.
India’s main export market for its gold jewellery is the United Arab Emirates.
IIJS runs until July 21, 2014.
