Jeweller - April 2020

INTERNATIONAL
Trade Show Report
WRITING THE FUTURE: INDIAN INGENUITY
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India - Amber fort in Jaipur
The recent IIJS Signature show in Mumbai proceeded ahead of the coronavirus – however, the outbreak has now
impacted India’s newest trade event, set to take place in the Pink City of Jaipur, writes COLEBY NICHOLSON.
The recent India International Jewellery
Show Signature (IIJS) trade show and
India Gem & Jewellery Machinery Expo
in Mumbai fell directly in the middle of
two worldwide issues: the US-China trade
war and the outbreak of the coronavirus,
known as COVID-19.
Unlike other jewellery trade shows which
had already been postponed, such as
Hong Kong’s International Jewellery Show,
Signature – the smaller of Mumbai’s two
annual jewellery events went ahead in late
February, mainly because its focus is largely
on the local market.
Its bigger ’brother’, IIJS Premiere, has
a much larger international visitation
and takes place in August. At the time of
publication, it was still scheduled to proceed
as planned.
However, India’s Gem & Jewellery Export
Promotion Council (GJEPC) – the organiser
of both IIJS events – has been forced to
postpone another important trade gathering:
the new International Gem & Jewellery Show
in Jaipur, which was slated for 1–3 April.
When the GJEPC decided to proceed with
Signature, COVID-19 was largely seen as a
‘China issue’. However, the impacts of the
outbreak were already beginning to be felt in
India; local diamond suppliers experienced
problems dealing with mainland Chinese
manufacturers as well as Hong Kong
companies, both of which had effectively
closed their offices.
As a result, the diamond trade with China
had effectively stalled well before the
enormous impact of the virus outside of
China became apparent.
The outbreak affected Indian sales as
well as producing numerous administrative
issues – staff were simply not present
in Chinese offices to pay invoices for
earlier deliveries.
While Chinese business began to falter,
some Indian jewllery manufacturers saw
an increase in exports to the US as a result
of the US-China trade war.
“We have great exports to America. Even
Chinese people are coming to India to set
up factories to export to the US, because of
the 6 per cent difference in duty due to the
trade wars. So, Americans have very keen on
buying from India,” Abihishek Sand,
director Savio Jewellery, told Jeweller at
the Signature show.
QUICK
NUMBERS
15k
Visitors
attended,
from 325 cities
700
Exhibitors
were present
at the show
4k
Jewellery
businesses will
be based at new
Jaipur Bourse
Savio Jewellery is a based in Jaipur and
Sand believes there are a number of
reasons for US buyers’ greater focus on
Indian suppliers: saving on import duty,
less disruptions due to coronavirus when
compared with China, and improvements
in manufacturing quality.
“The earlier manufacturing quality and
craftsmanship in India was said to be weak
but now Indian machinery is fantastic.
You can’t find a difference between Indian
jewellery and Hong Kong-made jewellery.
These machines have been imported and
we are now focusing on quality finishing,”
Sand said.
He added: “Every Indian manufacturer is
using CAD and less so hand-made. The
accuracy level was missing [with handmade]
and everyone wants quality finishing.
Buyers are not concerned about the price –
they are more concerned about the finished
craftsmanship, so in order to export they
are now focusing more on quality with CAD,
better machinery and technology.”
More than 15,000 visitors from 325 cities
attended the four-day event to see what
the 700 exhibitors had on display across
the 45,000 square-metre event space.
28 | April 2020