SEZ Gem and Jewellery Conclave Vision 2025 Upgrading tech, skills and mindset the need of the hour

In a first, GJEPC recently organised the SEZ Gem and Jewellery Conclave Vision 2025, where panellists discussed issues pertaining to the creation of ‘Brand India’, and improving export performance of the country

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In December last year, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal laid the foundation stone of a Rs 70-crore Mega Common Facility Centre at the Santa Cruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mumbai. The idea behind setting up such a facility is to improve the efficacy of the companies operating out of the SEZ and enhance their skill and technological prowess. The manufacturing units that operate out of the SEZ account for $30 billion of our total exports, and so, the infrastructure upgradation is expected to pay rich dividends.

Keeping this in mind, GJEPC, the apex body of the gem and jewellery trade in India, organised its first-ever SEZ Gems & Jewellery Conclave – Vision 2025 on August 23 2022. The one-point agenda of the Conclave was to outline the objectives of the Mega Common Facility Centre and figure out how exports can be given a fillip.

Hailing the gem and jewellery industry as the champion sector, Shyam Jagannathan (IAS), Zonal Development Commissioner, SEEPZ, Mumbai, pointed out that India has always been a front-runner when it comes to SEZs. He added that exports from SEZs grew by approximately 50% between 2014 and 2018, and also pointed out that there are challenges as well – more than 24,000 sq-mt are not being used, and there have been issues in maintaining institutional balance. The Baba Kalyani Report and the DESH Bill, which was passed earlier this year, will address these fundamental issues, he said.