Gems and jewellery exports declined 8.5 per cent to $22.41 billion in April-December this fiscal, mainly on account of slowdown in demand in major developed markets.

According to data from the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), exports stood at $24.5 billion in the April-December period of 2017-18.

The labour-intensive sector contributes about 15 per cent to the country’s overall exports.

The decline in shipments is mainly due to negative growth in the export of silver jewellery, gold medallions and coins, along with a rise in the return of consignments.

As per the data, silver jewellery exports during the period dipped 81.37 per cent to $579 million.

Similarly, outbound shipments of gold medallions and coins contracted 84.7 per cent during the nine months of 2018-19.

Shipments of rough diamonds also reported a negative growth of 13 per cent.

But, exports of cut and polished diamonds grew about 4 per cent to $17.9 billion during the period under review.

Gold jewellery shipments increased to $8.77 billion during the period from $6.83 billion in April-December 2017-18.

India’s main export destinations are the US, Europe, Japan and China. America accounts for about one-fourth of the country’s total gems and jewellery exports.

During the period, consignments worth about $6.5 billion were returned, compared with $5.4 billion in April-December 2017.

Imports of gems and jewellery also dipped 14.83 per cent in April-December 2018 to $20.2 billion.

Imports of rough diamonds contracted 14.34 per cent, while that of gold bar jumped to $6 billion during the period as against $4 billion in April-December 2017.