Shri Anand Sharma, the Union Minister of Commerce, Industry & Textiles inaugurated MMTC’s Festival of Gold, here today. Speaking on the occasion Shri Sharma said, “Gems & Jewellery is generating both foreign exchange revenues and employment in India and the government’s efforts to liberalize customs duty structure for import of gold raw material to revive domestic refining industry will go a long way to enable India to develop as a global gold hub with significant influence on world trade.” He appreciated the efforts of MMTC in providing a platform to showcase the best of jewellery art and craft of our jewellery artisans on a national and international scale. India is a major consumer of gold. This is a 10 day mega jewellery exhibition-cum-sale organized by MMTC and will continue through the festive season up to Dhanteras.
CMD- MMTC, Smt. Vijaylaxmi Joshi, while welcoming the Commerce Minister, expressed happiness at the growing stature and customer appeal for MMTC’s Festival of Gold. She said, “MMTC has been in the bullion trade since 1988 and over the years has transformed itself into one of the largest bullion importers in the subcontinent. As part of its commitment to bullion industry, MMTC hosted its first ‘Festival of Gold’ exhibition in 1994 at Hotel Ashok. While the Festival of Gold exhibition in Delhi has become a feature hosted twice a year (around Akshay Trithiya and Diwali), MMTC has taken the Festival of Gold to other cities also like Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai. The exhibitions of MMTC are now eagerly awaited by the general public.”
Smt. Vijaylaxmi Joshi informed that the Silver coins, pendants and silver bars of manufactured by MMTC-PAMP JV are also being retailed by MMTC. To take the connect further into the psyche of the generation next, MMTC has also for the first time brought the 13-to-22 age group in its fold with an exclusive collection of fusion and fashion jewellery that is light on the pocket and suiting this segment. MMTC receives constant feedback from consumers on their requirements. Some live demonstration of customers’ faith in MMTC and the promise of hallmarked purity is the innovative idea at this edition for ‘A Testing Facility for Jewellery’, ‘Buy-back’ and ‘Exchange Facility’ at MMTC’s ‘Shuddhi’ retail showrooms and certification of diamonds in all the diamond jewellery sold at the exhibition.
MMTC was designated as agency for import of gold by the Ministry of Commerce in 1988. Over the past three decades, MMTC has played a pioneering role in bullion trade and its contribution to industry has been duly recognized. During 2010-11, MMTC handled a quantity of 245 Tonnes of gold and 880 Tons of Silver. MMTC roughly accounts for 25 % of gold imports in India. MMTC is the largest importer of gold in India handling about 9 % of World Mine production. As on date there are more than 40 nominated agencies designated by Ministry of Commerce and Industry and RBI for import of bullion into India. Bullion business is very competitive in nature with large number of buyers.
The Festival of Gold exhibition-cum-sale has over one lakh jewellery designs, weighing over 250 kgs, on display and sale. The best of jewellery from 15 states across India are being showcased in this golden extravaganza- namely West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
About 50 new designs of Sanchi Silverware in 92.5% purity have been added for the festive season of Dhanteras and Diwali. Also gold and silver medallions in various denominations would be available for meeting the demands of the customers for the coming festive season and for investment purpose. There are lucky draws daily and customers would also be able to avail of attractive festive offers being extended by MMTC. In addition to this, there is a daily lucky draw scheme for customers making purchases in the exhibition. Altogether 20 gold coins and 20 silvers coins are up for grab.
Source : investinindia.com