Ripples And Waves

Every industry has constant changes and things move, challenges appear, however in the Gems and Jewelry Industry in India, there has been constant waves and at times even whirlpools over the last couple of years, right from change in PAN limits, introduction of Excise Duty (which resulted in a 45 day nationwide strike), the big DeMo - Demonetization which got everyone into frenzy to the recent NiMo – Nirav Modi bank scam that has been making top charts not just in our industry but beyond.

- Sachin Jain

However, there is resilience that the industry has exhibited - which is unparalleled and secondly the speed with which we get back to our regular lives, or I may say, get ready and waiting for the next one.

De Beers celebrated its 130th birthday on 12 March 2018, showing that the business has enjoyed real longevity as it has travelled its own unique journey, just like the miracles of nature it is famed for selling. But the history of the diamond industry in India is much longer than this. In fact, diamonds were first discovered in India before anywhere else in the world.

However, many people are more familiar with the country’s more recent diamond legacy – it was several decades ago that India began to become a leading player in the global diamond cutting, polishing and trading sector. Nowadays, it employs more people in the diamond sector than all other countries put together, and the gem and jewellery sector contributes around 7% of the national GDP.

But for many years of this modern history, India was seen as a diamond centre only suitable for cutting the smaller, lower quality diamonds. While this was definitely a strong area of national expertise, characterizing the entire sector in this way was a simple generalization that didn’t stand the test of time. Nowadays, Indian diamond businesses are among the leaders in polishing all types of diamonds of all sizes and all values.

Of course, the gem and jewellery industry has also been in the news in India a lot in recent times as there has been such a strong focus on the ‘Funding NiMo’ Nirav Modi story.