GJEPC revokes diamond import ban as industry sheds 1,00,000 jobs

The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has suspended a a month-long moratorium on imports and companies may now resume importing diamond rough, chairman Vasant Mehta has said.

GJEPC had made an appeal to cease all rough imports for a period of one month starting 25 November to address the diamond industry crisis in mid-November.

The ban on roughs import has been suspended amidst an expected 40 per cent fall in demand and the diamond cutters and polishers laid off workers across the country.

"We are passing through a very rough phase with employment of miners and those polishing gems at risk," Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) secretary general Amit Mitra said. 

The global recession has cost the Indian gems and jewellery industry about 1,00,000 jobs, Gitanjali Group managing director Mehul Choksi told a gems and jewellery industry conference in Surat.

"This is for the first time in four decades that the diamond industry is facing a severe liquidity crunch and has laid off 1,00,000 people recently," Choksi said.