The Ministry of Commerce chaired by Suresh Prabhu gathered a meeting yesterday with members of the G&J industry to implement an inclusive Domestic council to give the industry a much-needed boost. “By making Domestic Council a truly inclusive body involving best representation from the industry we aim to give further boost to Indian gems and jewellery industry,” Suresh Prabhu tweeted.

The meeting had in attendance all the important dignitaries of the industry like Mehul Shah, VP, BDB, Rajendra Bhola of G&J Skill Council, Surendra Mehta of IBJA, Ajay Mehra from FICCI, Shankar Sen from Assocham along with Praveenshankar Pandya, former chairman GJEPC and Pramod Agarwal, Chairman GJEPC. GJF president, Nitin Khandelwal and board member Avinash Gupta and Vijay Khanna were also present at the meeting. Representatives from Imitation Jewellery Association were also part of the discussion.

“This is by far the best move by the Government. We have formed a commission so that all the associations in the country will be working in a proper manner, complying with all the rules and regulations,” said Pramod Agarwal. The commission will be working under the guidance of Manoj Dwivedi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce. “All the necessary processes to form this council have to be completed by 31st July 2018. What our Commerce Minister has done for this industry is something great and I don’t think anyone has done anything better and he came up with this idea himself,’ added Agarwal.

This move would be excellent for the industry and everybody involved from the biggest of manufacturers to the smallest of karigars will now be heard. ‘All the agencies across the country have been rolled into one and now there will be one voice. Earlier, there used to be small individual associations that used to go to the Government separately. Now, thanks to this central body, all the issues can be addressed together,’ added Agarwal. The domestic council will aim to tackle the domestic issues that are currently affecting the growth of the sector.