NEW DELHI: A Rs 50-crore 'jewellery park' is set to come up in Mumbai as part of the central government's two-pronged efforts to boost exports that include common facilitation centres for diamond jewellery workers in small units where they will be able to share expensive equipment on pay-per-use basis.

The jewellery park, for which the state government will provide land, will be more of a manufacturing cluster where facilities for training and testing including laboratories will be present in one area, officials said. "A comfortable working environment will improve productivity of the karigars (artisans), make the product price more competitive and increase profitability," an industry expert said, requesting not to be identified.

He said the proposed jewellery park will generate employment for 80,000 people. Under the second scheme, the government has identified four locations in Gujarat where any artisan engaged in polishing and adding value to raw and uncut diamonds will be able to use expensive machinery.

"Expensive machines are required in this process which small units can't afford to buy. Also, these machines are not used all the time. So, the karigars can pay money and use them as per their convenience," said another official.

The government has allocated Rs 45 crore for setting up these centres, he said. The initiative comes at a time when India's jewellery sector faces a crisis of skilled labour, inadequate infrastructure and lack of technology. Reduced demand from the overseas markets led to a decline in exports of gems and jewellery to nearly $32 billion in 2015-16 from $36.2 billion in the previous fiscal

The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council has asked the government to permit goods to enter the country on consignment basis for manufacturing, reasoning that this will create additional jobs in the sector. This will also bring India on a par with China since diamond traders from other countries send goods to China for this purpose.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com