GJEPC reports 21% spike in gold jewellery exports in 9MFY23

Indian gold jewellery exports have not had a great time in the recent past. However, after the India-UAE CEPA, things appear to have improved for the better. For instance, India’s plain gold jewellery exports for nine months to December 2022 has grown by a robust 20.98% to Rs. 24,243 crores; or a little under $3 billion. At one time, textiles and gems & jewellery had dominated India’s export basket. This data was put out by the nodal agency that was set up to further the interests of this business, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). This surge has largely come on the back of the recent free trade agreement (FTA) inked with the United Arab Emirates, which fuelled G&J exports from India.

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According to data furnished by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the month of December 2022 saw total gross export of plain gold jewellery grow by a very healthy 21.3% to Rs. 2,370 crores. The growth was tad lower at 10.97% in dollar terms, which can be largely attributed to the sustained strength in the dollar and the rise in the Bloomberg dollar index (DXY). Plain gold and jeweller is just one segment. According to the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), for the 9 months to December 2022, overall gross exports of gems & jewellery grew 6.28% to Rs. 227,535 crore; or approximately $28.6 billion. Overall G&J exports were flat to negative, falling by 0.73% on yoy basis.

However, the overall gems & jewellery business did not share the robustness of the plain gold jewellery business. For instance, overall gem & jewellery exports for the month of December 2022 fell by 11.25% to Rs. 19,433 crores. In dollar terms, the fall was much sharper at -18.9%. Clearly, the weak dollar has turned out to be a double whammy. However, this same weak dollar has also made Indian plain gold jewellery more attractive in global imports as a weak rupee made these products much cheaper According to the chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), pressure in the month of December 2022 was largely due to the global headwinds like inflation, Fed hawkishness and recession fears.

Vipul Shah, the chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), has praised the commissioning of India-UAE CEPA for giving an exponential thrust to Indian gems & jewellery exports. The UAE remains a huge and lucrative market for Indian gold jewellery and the free trade agreement with UAE has resulted in exponential growth in exports to this region. More importantly, the surge of exports to UAE has more than compensated for the tepid demand in the traditional G&J markets for India like the US and Hong Kong. Plain gold jewellery exports witnessed positive double digit exports growth of around 21% in December 2022 as also for the nine months to December 2022.

India exports nearly 60% of its gems and jewellery output and for the 9 months to December 2022, the overall gross exports of cut and polished diamonds (CPDs) fell -1.24% to Rs. 132,076 crores. This was lower by 7.7% in dollar terms according to the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). The major impact on the CPD business came from the Ukraine-Russia conflict with exports falling of rough diamonds to Russia fell by up to 40%.Total exports of plan and studded gold jewellery grew 14.8% to Rs. 56,985 crore for the nine months to December 2022.