Indian Jeweller (IJ) Magazine August -September 2019

Show RepoRt
The 36th edition of India International
Jewellery Show (IIJS) opened in a grand
manner at Bombay Exhibition Centre.
One of Asia’s biggest G&J shows, this year the
show played host to 3000 exhibitors and had
around 35,000 visitors.
The inauguration, along with the flag
hoisting ceremony, saw the attendance of this
industry’s crème de la crème.
Present at the show were Chief Guest-
Ashish Shelar, Minister of School Education,
Sports and Youth Welfare of Maharashtra,
Guests of Honour - Paul Rowley, Executive
Vice President, Diamond Trading, De Beers
Group and Evgeny Agureev, Director of
the United Selling Organization, ALROSA,
Chairman - Pramod Agrawal, Vice Chairman -
Colin Shah, Convener (National Exhibitions)
Mansukh Kothari, Co Convener - Kirit
Bhansali and other dignitaries.
“It is very important that we get demand for
jewellery and reach new markets. The industry
needs to adopt world’s ever-evolving ways of
doing business. The trade needs to capatalise
on the ongoing U.S. - China trade war and
see how we get more business from both
China and U.S. Diamonds form the largest
component of Indian G&J industry and it is
going through a crisis. We recently requested
De Beers to increase its marketing spends. We
also had long discussion with ALROSA and
requested them also to pump in more funds
in marketing. The council’s main agenda is to
promote small and midscale businesses. The
Council has set up 4 CFCs in Gujarat and
more are coming up in Coimbatore, Kolkata,
Maharashtra and more,” said Pramod Agrawal,
Chairman, GJEPC.
Speaking on the challenges faced by the
diamond industry, Paul Rowley, Executive
VP, Diamond Trading, De Beers Group said,
“I am very optimistic about the trade even
though we are facing quite a bit of challenges.
Going forward we will be spending more in
marketing in U.S. and gradually other markets
as well. Macroeconomic challenges are
impacting businesses across the world. In my
36 years of existence in the diamond industry,
I have not faced these kinds of challenges -
with Brexit, US-China trade war and more!
And the G&J industry has its own share of
problems. But what is important is how we
tackle all of this collectively. I have always
been impressed by the shared energy of this
country. We have a strong domestic market
for diamonds in India and I don’t think that is
something we should ignore. India is perhaps
the youngest country in the world right now
and millennials just like all of us are in love
with diamonds.”
Chief Guest, Ashish Shelar insisted on
improvising skills to match international
standards when it comes to jewellery. “If
the responsibility of shaping and cutting
the diamonds in such a way that it shines
brilliantly is with the industry, ensuring that
you get the right human resource for the same
lies with the Department of Education. PM
Modi and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal
are doing everything they can to support the
trade. We are going to have a Jewellery Park
here in Maharashtra and we need good human
resource who are highly skilled to make
jewellery of international standards. So, we
will soon open a G&J school and university
where students can hone their skills.”
With an additional Hall 7 that hosted 100+
exhibitors, enhanced security and ease of
entry, this year’s IIJS delivered more than what
it had promised.
Economic slowdown coupled with gold
price hitting an all-time high has certainly had
its share of impact. Having said that, majority
of the exhibitors believed that the show fared
Shine Shilpi
114 | august-september 2019 | INDIAN JEWELLER