Strong attendance at Mumbai’s IIJS Premiere trade show
By David Brough
MUMBAI, August 12, 2018 – Visitor attendance was high amid tight security at the expanded August 9-13 IIJS Premiere trade show, India’s biggest jewellery trade fair.
The Premiere edition of the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) in Mumbai expected more than 35,000 visitors, mainly from Asia. A new Hall 7A featured 800 booths, organisers said.
Global exports of Indian gems and jewellery were predicted to reach $70 billion in coming years from $41 billion in 2018, Pramod Agrawal, chairman of the state-backed Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), told a news conference at the inauguration.
Amid the tight security some retailers complained about lengthy queues to enter and exit the halls, which were crammed with visitors.
Silver jewellery, combined with the latest technologies in plating, were outstanding performers among the range of Indian gem and jewellery exports in 2018, Agrawal said.
A weaker rupee against the U.S. dollar has helped stimulate exports to leading markets, such as the United States and China, this year.
“The jewellery and diamond and coloured gemstone business is flourishing,” Gaetano Cavalieri, president of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), said in an address to the inauguration.
Recent guidelines on diamonds from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States were unlikely to lead to a surge in unscrupulous marketing, said Colin Shah, vice-chairman of the GJEPC, noting that such activities already existed in some quarters.
The FTC said a diamond was a diamond whether it had developed naturally in the earth’s crust or was created in a lab.
Jean-Marc Lieberherr, CEO of the miner-backed Diamond Producers Association (DPA), told reporters at the show that he disagreed with the FTC guidelines.
“It will give marketers the opportunity to test the limits,” he said.
In Indian jewellery designs, pastel colours were increasingly popular.
In diamonds, rose cuts were much sought after.
Multi-finger rings featuring coloured gemstones and diamonds, and heavy layering of necklaces, were on-trend.
