UAE, Bahrain account for over 85% of India's plain gold jewellry exports in FY24

UAE and Bahrain accounted for over 85% of India’s plain gold jewellery exports in FY24, according to figures released by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). For FY24, overallexports of plain gold jewellery from India surged by 61.72% to US$ 6792.24 million as compared to US$ 4199.96 million in FY23.

Total gold jewellery (plain and studded jewellery), which experienced a 10.47% decline between April 2023 to September 2023, rebounded strongly in the latter half of the year, achieving a growth of 46.91%, GJEPC said.

Australia also witnessed a growth of 37% in plain gold jewellery exports attributing its development to the India-Australia ECTA. The UAE emerged as a significant market for plain gold jewellery exports from India, experiencing remarkable growth of 107.2% to reach USD 4,528.66 million in FY24, compared to USD 2,185.67 million in the previous year.

Speaking about the increase in plain gold jewellery exports, Vipul Shah, Chairman, GJEPC, said, “The increase in plain gold jewellery exports may be attributed to the pragmatic foreign trade agreements by the Govt. The implementation of India-UAE CEPA couldn't have come at a better time, especially when the industry faced various challenges with economic downturns in major export markets and escalating geopolitical concerns, all of which led to the decline in demand .”

Shahadded, “GJEPC has been actively working with the Government to implement favourable policies in the forthcoming trade agreements, notably those with GCC, Canada, UK, and EU. I am confident that this proactive engagement will positively impact the exports of gem and jewellery to these nations in the coming months."

The overall gross exports of gems & jewellery in FY24 declined 14.45% to US$ 32285.85 million compared to US$ 37737.05 million in the preceding period.

“The point to be noted here is the decline in gross gem and jewellery exports, which stood at 25.04% in the first half of the financial year, narrowed to just 1.60% in the second half, showcasing the industry's resilience and ability to bounce back even in challenging times,” said Shah.

Shah further said, “FY24 was a challenging year for exports, owing to the high-interest costs, inflation and slackening of market demand in the USA and lower growth in China after Covid hit the gem & jewellery industry hard in the first half of the year. Also, the Ukraine war and uncertainty on import of rough diamonds from Russia worsened the scenario.”

“To tap and penetrate new markets, GJEPC made concerted efforts to explore new markets through delegations to Vietnam, Cambodia etc and now a delegation to Latin American countries is planned in May to give fillip to exports," Shah added.

Cut & polished diamond exports in FY 2023-24 decreased by 27.58% to US$ 15967.02 million compared to US$ 22047.72 million in the previous year.

“The diamond industry’s decision to voluntarily halt natural rough diamond imports from October 15th to December 15th, 2023, helped address demand-supply imbalances and resulted in a positive impact on the prices of polished diamonds as we entered the Q4 of the financial year,” Shah added.

“Despite experiencing sluggish demand for cut and polished diamonds from key export markets such as the USA, Hong Kong, and UAE, they still accounted for significant exports: USD 5,598.81 million, USD 4,360.30 million, and USD 1,714.39 million respectively. “⁠GJEPC is discussing with Global Diamond miners to increase investments in enhancing the generic promotion of diamonds and diamond jewellery in the US, China, the Middle East including India,” Shah added.

The largest jewellery fair in the USA is at the end of May and we are hopeful that this fair will mark the turnaround of US exports. It is expected that by September 2024 the diamond and diamond jewellery exports will witness robust growth, the GJEPC chairman said.

Gross export of silver jewellery for the FY 2023-24 declined 44.97% to US$ 1618.97 million over the comparative figure of US$ 2942.20 million for the previous year. Gross export of coloured gemstones for the FY 2023-24 grew 14% to US$ 478.71 million over the comparative figure of US$ 420.13 million for the previous year.

In FY 2023-24, platinum gold jewellery exports have shown a very robust growth of 449.16% to US$ 163.48 million over the comparative figure of US$ 29.77 million for the previous year.

Gross export of polished lab grown diamonds for the FY 2023-24 declined 16.54% to US$ 1402.44 million over the comparative figure of US$ 1680.29 million for the previous year.

However, the industry and the sector are concerned with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East that may impact the overall exports in the first quarter of FY 2024-25.