Inlayer, Metal

Overview of Gems and Jewellery Sector in India

Gold has always been regarded as precious as well as important by citizens of this country, be it in the form of bars, coins or jewellery. It is used as a medium of saving, gifting, form of transfer of wealth, as well as a highly liquid financial instrument. Initially, India was a large producer of gold; its reserves have been depleted by its ever increasing demand and now remain negligible. In recent years, India has accounted for almost one-fourth of the annual global demand for gold and is one of the world?s largest importers of gold. Further, raw materials, such as silver, platinum, gemstones and diamonds, among others are also imported from different parts of the world.

Indian clusters for diamond processing Surat, Ahmedabad; for gemstone processing Bhavnagar and Jaipur; and for handmade gold jewellery Kolkata, Thrissur and Coimbatore are among other areas that are known world over for their products. Every region of the country has a different style of jewellery unique in its proposition. Some examples of these traditional jewellery forms are Bikaneri, Dhokra, Minakari and Filligree. Collectively, India is a source of manufacturing all varieties of products; and its presence is critical in the global gems and jewellery sector.

Growth Estimates and Latest Trends of Gems and Jewellery Sector in India

Though India is one of the largest jewellery markets in the world, it is far from being saturated. Currently, India?s per capita jewellery consumption is less than a tenth of that of developed countries such as the US, Japan and Italy. With more households having income to spend beyond basic necessities now, cultural inclination towards jewellery suggests that per capita consumption will increase many fold with rising income levels. The effects of liberalisation in 1991 have been felt in the new millennium. India?s economy was growing at a significant pace and personal disposable income doubled between 2001 and 2008. This has led to a sharp increase in the number of middleclass and upper middle class households in India. As per the NCAER survey, around 1.2 million households in India earned over INR10,00,000 per annum in 2005. This segment is expected to grow to over 3 million by 2015. Further, a share of wallet analysis reveals that jewellery accounts for more than a fourth of the discretionary spending by consumers in India.

The share of females in the working population has increased in the last few decades. However, wearing yellow gold products is generally avoided as they stand out. Therefore, to accommodate this, products are now being designed using white metals such as rhodium, polished gold and platinum among others. These contemporary products, generally worn in western countries, are in increasing demand in the last few years by professional women. All these factors will result in more job opportunities for candidates applying in this sector across India.