Jewellery

The move announced on Saturday by the government, is aimed at protecting consumers and enhancing their confidence in purchase of hallmarked gold jewellery. Official sources said that it would ensure traceability and assure quality in gold jewellery. Consumers can check and authenticate hallmarked gold jewellery items with HUID number using the "verify HUID" in 'BID CARE' app.

According to WGC, the US became the largest market for Indian gold jewellery due to additional tariffs on Chinese jewellery to the US, which made the Indian exporters more competitive. Secondly, the UAE's implementation of a 5 per cent import duty in 2017 and 5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) in 2018 have negatively impacted its competitiveness.

"The price of 24 carat gold is expected to touch Rs 60,000/10 grams in couple of days. On Monday, the price was Rs 58,550/24 carat 10 grams including taxes," Madras Jewelers and Diamond Merchants Association President and Challani Jewellery Mart partner Jayantilal Challani told IANS.

The rating outlook prior to withdrawal was stable. "In view of the current market conditions, the company has pushed back its plans to access the international debt capital markets. Moody's has decided to withdraw the rating for its own business reasons," Moody's said.

He also said 80 per cent of the demand will be for jewellery and the balance in the form of gold coins. The gold demand in India for 2022 will be above 800 tonne. It will be between 800 tonne to 850 tonne. The 5 per cent duty hike on the gold by the Central government will not have any major impact on the demand for the yellow metal, said Somasundaram P.R., Regional CEO India, World Gold Council.

Sustained high prices of gold, as well as steady demand, is expected to raise gold jewellery retailers' revenue by 12-15 per cent next fiscal, said ratings agency Crisil. It also said that the segment's revenue is expected to grow by 20-22 per cent this fiscal, albeit on a lower base of the Covid-19 pandemic-impacted last fiscal. Besides, it said that operating margins should improve 50-70 basis points (bps) on-year to 7.3-7.5 per cent in fiscal 2023, because of elevated gold prices and improved operating leverage.

India's gem and jewellery exports during December 2021 grew 29.49 per cent to $3,040.92 million (Rs 22,914.6 crore) as compared to $2,348.44 million (Rs 16,712.46 crore) in December 2019 -- the pre-pandemic year, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council said. Besides, exports during April-December rose 5.8 per cent to $29,084 million from $27,500 during the same period of 2019.

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal laid the foundation stone for a CFC at the Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mumbai. The Indian gems and jewellery industry has the largest skilled workforce of 4.5 million as on date.

The strike has been called by the National Task Force for Hallmarking, formed by 350 associations and federations representing all four zones of the entire gems and jewellery industry. The objective of this committee is to ensure a smooth implementation of mandatory hallmarking across the country, said a statement by the task force on Friday.