The Union Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal today laid the foundation stone for a Mega Common Facility Centre for Gem and Jewellery sector, at the Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mumbai.
The Mega CFC is a dream project worth Rs. 70 crore and would be an epicentre of skill training and an important business facilitation centre situated in the heart of the country’s significant manufacturing centre for gems and jewellery. It will be one of two such facilities (the other being at Surat) which will provide cutting-edge technology for manufacturing and other allied processes of the gem and jewellery sector. The Centre will also provide skilling and training support to build a competent workforce. The Indian gems and jewellery industry has the largest skilled workforce of 4.5 million as on date.
The Minister expressed the hope that the work of revamp of SEEPZ would lead to a gradual reconstruction of entire SEEPZ in next 3 – 5 years. The Minister urged the industry and SEEPZ to work in tandem to accomplish this. The Minister said that we must make SEEPZ world-class once again.
The Minister exhorted the gem and jewellery industry to aim higher. “The gem and jewellery sector has power, promise and potential to truly realise the dream of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. It's time now to make this gem and jewellery sector in India a truly global champion, reflecting India's promise, capabilities and trust. The Minister said that the government will do everything to reach the outstanding export numbers that GJEPC aims to achieve.
GJEPC Chairman, Colin Shah that the mega CFC at SEEPZ will redefine the future of the G&J industry. He added that the Mega CFC will facilitate the required technology to boost the exports from the SEEPZ. “Currently the SEEPZ contributes around USD 3 billion to our total gem and jewellery exports annually, but with better infrastructure and technology, the SEEPZ definitely can contribute to exports of USD 7 billion to USD 10 billion annually.”
Zonal Development Commissioner, SEEPZ SEZ Shyam Jagannathan stated that the new Mega CFC will give a fillip to small manufacturers to scale up their quality of production and this, in turn, will further contribute substantially to the exports of the country.
The mega CFC, will provide common manufacturing processes and related services to jewellery units. This will not only help to reduce the cost of production in a big way but also lead to the transfer of know-how amongst these units, thereby providing a competitive advantage to them.
The new facility will also provide access to a common pool of high-end capital-intensive state-of-art machines. It can provide a wide spectrum of ancillary services such as CAD CAM, electroplating, fire assaying, manufacturing and 3D metal printing, along with providing consultancy, R&D and training.