Colin Shah and Vipul Shah, the new Chairman and Vice Chairman of The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) will take charge of their new responsibilities from outgoing GJEPC Chairman Pramod Kumar Agrawal on June 23, 2020. They will have a tenure of two years till 2022 at the head of the Committee of Administration, elections to various posts of which were completed recently.
The two are highly experienced captains of the gems and jewellery industry with successful track records to their name. While Colin Shah, earlier Vice-Chairman alongside Agrawal moves into the role of Chairman, Vipul Shah was elected unanimously at the recent polls.
Prior to this, Colin Shah has served as member of CoA for the period 2012-15 and Vipul Shah served as the Chairman of GJEPC for the same period.
The other key appointments in the CoA for the term 2020-22 based on the elections held include: Ashok Gajera (Regional Chairman-West), Prakash Pincha (Regional Chairman-East), Nirmal Bardiya (Regional Chairman-Rajasthan), Dinesh Navadiya (Regional Chairman-Gujarat), Mahender Tayal (Regional Chairman-South), Ashok Seth (Regional Chairman-North); Sanjay Shah, Dilip Shah, Milan Chokshi, Russell Mehta, Sanju Kothari, Chirag Lakhi, Anil Virani, Manish Jiwani in Diamond Panel; Shailesh Sangani, K Srinivasan, Mansukh Kothari, Suvankar Sen in Gold Jewelry & Other Precious Metals Jewelry Panel; Mahendra Agarwal and Vijay Kedia in Colored Gem Stones & Pearls Panel ; Ram Babu Gupta in Silver Panel and Badrinarayanan Gupta in Sales to Foreign Tourist Panel.
“The new term at GJEPC starts amidst acute uncertainties due to the ongoing COVID 19 crisis in India and world over. It demands a paradigm shift for the industry,” said incoming Chairman, Colin Shah.
Elaborating on the new thrust, he added, “The Council is focusing towards recalibrating itself by digitalisation across verticals, exploring new ways of reaching customers and unconventional ways of creating demand for gems and Jewellery. We are fortunate to have a very strong team representing every segment of our industry. We are confident that we all will work closely with the industry and the government, especially the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to give Indian gems and jewellery a competitive edge in the world market.”
Enumerating some of the key concerns of the industry, the new Chairman further said, “Favourable Policy measures for improving ease of doing business, availability of Bank Finance, fostering MSMEs, leveraging e-Commerce for trade and business are some of the immediate concerns we would like to address.”
Striking a note of optimism, he said, “We will collectively turn adversity into opportunity and act with conviction and speed.”
Commenting on his vision for the industry, Vipul Shah, Vice Chairman, GJEPC, said, “It is a privilege to be associated with GJEPC. India has come a long way to achieve the status of global leader in gems and jewellery exports business. There are tremendous growth opportunities for Indian jewellery exports and the industry will stand together to complete the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to create an Atmanirbhar Bharat by upgrading domestic manufacturing capabilities to substitute imports and make India the most flourishing global hub of jewellery exports in the next 5 years.”
Analysing the present situation, Vipul Shah added, “The current environment is extremely challenging for the Indian gems and jewellery exports. However, we are optimistic that the global consumption will pick-up in the second half of this year and global trade will witness upward trend.
Outlining some of the priorities that would be in focus, Vipul Shah said, “Bank finance in the gems and jewellery sector, skill enhancement of craftsmen and karigars, gold monetisation etc. are some of the recurring issues faced by the industry that needs to be addressed on priority.”
GJEPC has made several representations and recommendations to the Government of India to boost gems and jewellery exports and is hopeful that the government will take some positive trade measures soon. Council congratulates the Government and the Ministry of Finance for announcing the Rs 20 lakh crores stimulus package. This relief package will ensure that the economic wheel of progress which has come to a halt, will resume again with full speed.
NewsSource: GJEPC
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and TJM Media Pvt Ltd. is not responsible for any errors in the same.
