Mumbai: India’s gem and jewellery industry must adapt to consumers’ heightened desire for custom-made products in order to grow the sector, the nation’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi addressed the international and Indian diamond fraternity through video conferencing from New Delhi Sunday night.
The trade must understand its clients more deeply in order to mould their consumption habits, rather than take a merely reactive approach, the statesman said in a live video address at the event, which is marking 50 years of the country’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
“We live in an era where [clothing] retailers change people’s preferences,” Mr. Modi said. “Even hairdressers change hairstyle fashions of their clients. Can’t our jewellers, with their skills, strengths and heritage, create and change global tastes and fashions?”
Modi cautioned that the sector had not made the strides seen in other business areas, even as he recognized its growth from a $28 million industry in 1966 to $40 billion today.
India is lagging, he said, arguing that making stronger connections with consumers was essential to changing that.
With ecommerce making it easier to establish direct contact with consumers, now is a “golden opportunity” for the Indian industry, he declared, recommending that it support young entrepreneurs in cultivating a market for made-to-order Indian jewellery.
Mr. Modi also called on the GJEPC and India’s state governments to make this growth happen. “Today, India has acquired a global brand for high skills and excellence in software,” the Prime Minister added. “We have yet to do that in jewellery. If we do that, the potential is huge. This is a task which the council should take up in right earnest.”
