Surat, new jewelry hub in the making!

29 Dec '08

2 min read

As part of Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit 2009, the Government of Gujarat organized a Conference and Exhibition on Gem & Jewelry Industry, in association with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry titled 'Sparkle' from December 26 -28, at Surat.

Narendra Modi, State Chief Minister, while inaugurating the three day event said that Gujarat is now all set to emerge as the hub for jewelries and apparel.

"We are already talking to Italian players who can provide us with state-of-the art machinery. The Government is also investing in jewelry special economic zones. There is nothing to stop us from upgrading ourselves from being a mere diamond polishing hub to becoming the world's pivotal jewelry-biz centre. The demand for diamond can go down but not for jewelry. I want to see jewelries from Gujarat increase it's volume of exports 40 percent by 2010,"

The Minister emphasized on value addition, industry integrations and linkages, technology upgradation, branding and marketing, benchmarking standards and quality checks.

According to him, proper training is necessary to fulfill the aim of making jewelry a cottage industry in Gujarat.

Speaking on global recession and competition from China, Mr Modi said, “If we have to fight recession and face the Chinese threat in diamond polishing, we will have to invest in research and innovation, which, in turn will reduce our cost of manufacturing and increase our competitiveness in the world economy."

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