The hike in customs duty on imported artificial gemstones from 7.5% to 15% in this year’s budget has buoyed manufacturers in Tiruchi who are desperately looking for measures to revive the once thriving industry here.
Synthetic gemstones are an eco-friendly alternative (with the same chemical compositions and crystal structures) to precious and semi-precious stones that rely on quarrying.
Created by the fusion and crystallisation under high pressure of certain chemicals, artificial gems are more common not just in jewels, clothing, plastic and leather goods, but also in industrial tools and in engraving blades, thread guides for the textile industry, in optics and so on.
The industry, which once employed at least three lakh people in Tiruchi – manufacturers, traders and rural workers - at its peak in the mid-1990s, now has less than a thousand players.
Cheap Chinese imports that sell for as low as Re.1 to 80 paise per stone, compared to the local, handmade ones costing ₹5 to 6, have been a major cause of the industry’s losses.
“The import duty hike has been a long-standing demand of synthetic gem manufacturers, put forward through the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and we are happy to see that the government has taken note of our concerns,” M.R. Venugopal, president, All India Synthetic Gems Manufacturers and Dealers Association, said. “Though the revised duty will help Indian manufacturers, it will take at least two years for the initiative to bear fruit,” he added.
Industry players said that the import duty hike should be accompanied by a stress on indigenous equipment, because the lockdown had made it impossible for repairs to be carried out on foreign machines.
A project to manufacture automated gemstone polishing equipment locally is nearing completion at the Siemens Centre of Excellence in Manufacturing under the auspices of National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi (NITT).
T. Rajasekhar, a veteran synthetic gem cutter and polisher, has been working on fabricating a machine similar to a Chinese unit that he imported from Wuzhou city in Guangxi province in 2018.
“I have dismantled my Chinese machine, and am collaborating with local technicians on putting together a gadget that will do the same job at a lower cost. I am hoping to have it ready by the end of February,” said Mr. Rajasekhar, who had spent ₹24 lakhs on the Chinese purchase.
In addition to the protective taxation, the industry also needs to be able to deal with raw material suppliers directly, said K.P. Annamalai, Secretary, All India Synthetic Gems Manufacturers and Dealers Association.
“At present, the procurement process is unregulated, which allows middlemen to profiteer with low-quality raw material. We have identified a few companies in China and other countries, that can be put in direct contact with manufacturers in Tiruchi, to ensure uniform production standards,” he said.
