| Date: |
05-01-2015 |
| Subject: |
Diamond miners get incentive to set shop in GHB |
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SURAT: After Mumbai's Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), Surat's jewellery park run by Gujarat Hira Bourse (GHB) at Ichhapore has received the status of special notified zone (SNZ) for trading of rough diamonds under the scheme announced by the central government.
Announcing the SNZ at the Ichhapore Jewellery park run by GHB at the inauguration ceremony of Sparkle International-2015, a gems and jewellery event on Saturday, Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel said, "The state government and the GJEPC has proposed GHB's jewellery park as the potential spot for setting up SNZ. This has been accepted by the central government. It is going to boost the image of Surat as the world's biggest manufacturing and rough diamond trading hub"
The CM also announced setting up of training centres for creating a pool of skilled diamond artisans. The training centres will be set up in coordination with the Indian Diamond Institutes (IDI) at Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad and Rajkot.
"We want to create a pool of skilled diamond artisans to increase production in the diamond sub-centres like Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad and Rajkot. At present, these diamond centres are facing shortage of workers due to which the diamond production is going down," Patel said.
Vipul Shah, chairman, Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said, "Mumbai and Surat are the nerve centres of global diamond industry. We are happy that the government has accepted our proposal of setting up SNZ at GHB's jewellery park at Ichhapore. Along with Mumbai, the diamond miners from around the world will set up their trading offices in Surat as well."
India's annual import of rough diamonds is pegged at $15 billion. The rough diamonds are imported from different mining countries and trading centres like Antwerp and Dubai.
After the setting up of the SNZ, the diamantaires would no longer have to visit the mining companies or the trading centres to purchase rough diamonds. But, the mining companies and rough dealers from across the world would set up their trading offices in Mumbai and Surat.
Sources said that the SNZ at GHB's jewellery park will be equipped with custom clearance facility and that the big, small and medium diamond manufacturers would be able to directly source their raw material from the RBI-approved diamond miners. However, the industry is awaiting the announcement of the new custom policy framework by the Central Government.
Chandrakant Sanghavi, president, GHB said, "We are getting positive signals from the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance regarding the changes in the custom policies like allowing consignment import of rough diamonds and turnover taxation for the diamond miners for the smooth operation of SNZ at Mumbai and Surat"
Sanghavi added, "Around five jewellery units have already started operations at Jewellery Park at Ichhapore. Another 20 companies have started constructing their units. With the SNZ status, the popularity of GHB is set to increase."
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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