After posting a decline in exports for 11 months from September 2008 on a year-on-year basis in a row,the gem and jewellery sector has witnessed a turnaround in exports. For the first time in the last 12 months,the sector has posted an export growth of 15.7 per cent at $ 2.2 billion in August 2009 from from $ 1.9 billion in July. Industry experts are optimistic that demand would pick up in the coming months as orders for the Christmas and New Year start pouring in from major markets like the US. We are lucky that the industry is reviving fast and hopeful to achieve the $21-billion target by March 2010, Gem and Jewellery Exports Promotion Council (GJEPC) chairman Vasant Mehta said. For the first time,the gem and jewellery sector has seen an exports growth of 15.7 per cent to $ 2.2 billion in August from $ 1.9 billion in July this year, Mehta told The Indian Express in an interview. Due to a demand slump in the US and Europe,exports in the sector declined for 11 months in a row. In the April-August period this year,exports contracted to $9.7 billion from $14.6 billion last fiscal. Exports in July were $1.9,a three per cent down over the same month last year. Exports of precious items were valued at $21.1 billion in 2008-09 as against $20.9 billion in the previous fiscal. 400 units reopen,40-45% workers get jobs back Mumbai: The sparkle seems to be slowly back among thousands of workers in the gem and jewellery sector and hundreds of small units.Over 400 firms which downed their shutters are back in business. Almost 50,000-55,000 workers (accounting for 40-45 per cent of the total laid-off workforce) have got back their jobs and over 20 per cent of the remaining are likely to be reinstated later. Many of them quit the industry and switched over to other jobs. We are hopeful that over 70 per cent will be back in their jobs by the end of next year, GJEPC chairman Vasant Mehta said.
