A team from GJEPC’s MSME department visited Hupari, the silver city of Maharashtra, on 15-16 December to understand the challenges faced by the gem & jewellery sector there and study its potential to develop as a silver export hub.

The team conducted physical seminars and awareness sessions with several local associations based in Kolhapur district and informed their members about important schemes of the MSME Ministry related to bank finance, infrastructure, exhibition participation; and GJEPC initiatives like the Parichay Card, Jewellery Park, Swasthya Kosh, Micro Membership, Help Desk, Call Centre and Mobile App.

The attendees were also briefed on how they could benefit from GJEPC MoUs and collaborations with Yes Bank, NSIC, Godrej Securities Pvt Ltd, Edelweiss on Motor Insurance, Mercedes Benz, E-bay, MakeMyTrip, etc.

The GJEPC MSME team conducted meetings with prominent stakeholders of the associations and discussed several issues being faced by manufacturers and karigars.

A brief survey of the manufacturing units in Hupari revealed that at least one person in each home is associated with silver jewellery making in some form or the other. Over 25,000 people work in Hupari’s multi-crore silver industry. Hupari is famous for silver payals or anklets that are supplied to jewellery hubs in India. The team concluded that the region needs several government reforms on infrastructure, finance, design interventions, branding, machinery and several other domains.