'Round tripping of jewellery on the rise '

Indian exporters are said to be exporting gold jewellery with minimum value addition

India’s jewellery export numbers are very much visible, but experts also doubt some figures. This is because the same jewellery exported from India is coming back in the form of gold bars (round tripping).

“It could be a case of round tripping,” said Somasundaram P R, managing director of World Gold Council (India).

Indian exporters are said to be exporting gold jewellery with minimum value addition to get a higher gold import quota for domestic market after imports linked to exports under the 80:20 rule.

Such restrictions have tempted exporters to go for round-tripping.

According to data from the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, overall export of ornaments reported a growth of 13 per cent to $18,122 million in the first half of the current financial year compared to $16,075 million in the corresponding period last year.

“A lot of exports of machine-made ornaments are happening in India.

Hand-crafted jewellery items are not visible in large quantity in overseas markets,” said Somasundaram.

Talking about the increase in supply through domestic channels, Somasundaram said: “We can see some policy relaxation in the first quarter of 2015 by when the government would have the exact figure of the current account deficit and indications towards implications of initiatives taken by the government in favour of growing economy.”

He also advocated the government to allow banks to buy jewellery from consumers to increase domestic supply through recycling.

Since, recycling of jewellery is time-consuming, recycling of coins is easy. So, lowering sales of coins is going to cause a long-term impact on recycling, Somasundaram said.

Image: A bride adjusts her nose ring before taking her wedding vows during a mass marriage ceremony in Ahmedabad. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters