Surat, Aug 12 (KNN) The Surat Special Economic Zone or SUR SEZ saw a decline in its  gems and jewellery exports for the first four months of the 2023-23 by 65% at Rs 3,173 crore as compared to the corresponding period last year (Rs 9,064 crore), officials said.

Of the total exports of Rs 3706.96 crore between April and July this year that includes engineering, pharma, textile, tobacco and other manufacturing units as well, gems and jewellery contributed nearly 85% of the exports, they said.

There are close to 100 units in the Surat SEZ.

“The decline in the exports has been mainly due to the overall decline in the demand for diamonds from US and European countries. In the first three months from April to June, the exports were down by more than 70%,” said Virendra Singh, additional director general of Foreign Trade and Development Commissioner for SUR SEZ.

Singh also cited the closure of four units of Sagar Diamonds that were raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March this year as one of the reasons behind the decline in exports.

Sagar Diamonds is being investigated for its involvement in an alleged money laundering case linked to a Chinese-controlled money lending app that allegedly deceived many people, said an official aware of the matter.

The overall gross exports of gems & jewellery for the April-June quarter stood at Rs 60,222.10 crore as compared to Rs 77,499.44 crore in the corresponding period in the year previous, suggesting a decline of 28.08%, according to data available on Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council’s (GJEPC) website.

The diamond hub employs close to 800,000 people and is a major contributor to India’s gems and jewellery exports of about Rs.3 lakh crore. 

The recession in the Surat diamond industry was triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war last year, according to experts.  (KNN Bureau)