NEW DELHI: Newly appointed Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) Chairman Colin Shah on Thursday said he will focus on promoting ease of doing business for the sector as it would help in pushing manufacturing and exports both.
He said issues like reducing paperwork and simplifying procedures for export and import would help this labour-intensive sector, especially during the post-coronavirus times.
"We are really going to focus in the short term on promoting ease of doing business whether it is paperwork, import-export procedures, all. It is a big laundry list. These steps will make it easier for Make in India and exports," Shah said.
Areas like increasing gold availability in the domestic market for exporters and ways to promote trade through e-commerce also need special attention, he added.
"To promote exports through e-commerce, we need a proper e-commerce policy," Shah said adding that the Council would educate its members on promoting digitalisation in their companies," he said.
Further, Shah said he would work on making our testing and certifying Indian labs international.
"We will be doing virtual buyer-seller meetings, as there will be less travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we are working on that," he said.
On the exports of gems and jewellery, he said that as the lockdown is gradually opening up globally, exports may start getting up from September-october this year. "But, in terms of full recovery in exports, it will at least take 12-18 months," he added.