Hunnarbaaz series: Skills and jobs in gem and jewellery sector

This article is based on Hunnarbaaz TV series that was aired on Doordarshan. We wish to acknowledge and credit Directorate General of Training, MSDE and Cinema Vision India for Hunnarbaaz series. We are thankful to National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for permission to re-use the video content in this educational series. Please note that the names of organisations and designations of people shown in the videos and quoted in the article may no longer be the same. This article has 4 pages.

About the gem and jewellery industry and GJSCI

The gem and jewellery industry is an intriguing combination of science, technology and creativity. The Gem and Jewellery Sector Skill Council (GJSCI) focuses on skill development under all the areas and functions of the industry such as diamond processing, colored gemstone processing, jewellery manufacturing, wholesale, retail and exports.Gems and Jewellery industry currently employs about 4.64 million employees and is slated to employ an additional of 3.59 million by 2022.

Introduction to the gem and jewellery industry

As per a famous adage ‘beauty lies in the eye of the beholder’ but jewellery is one thing that makes anyone look beautiful. In our country from the Mohenjodaro and Harappa dynasties to the Mughal dynasty there is no mention of beauty without jewellery.

One of the reasons why India was called the ‘Golden Bird’ was due to its vast collection of gold, silver diamond and pearl jewellery. Out of every 12 diamonds in the world 11 pass through the designers of India so 94% of the world’s diamond passes through the artisans of India. There is a huge demand for the people in the gem and jewellery industry today. 50% of the market in the world’s luxury segment is occupied by the jewellery sector. China, Hong Kong and the Middle East along with the U.S and Canada etc. are new markets for jewels and now the industry has moved beyond six thousand crores.

When NSDC decided to represent India in the World skills competition we were awarded the medal of honour in the jewellery designing segment. We have a strong presence in the world due to our diamond and jewellery making and designing capabilities. The main quality of a skilled diamond specialist would be to identify a diamond. The quality is determined based on the shape, colour and its carat value and then how it’s been cut and polished. Earlier our export of diamonds was not even 100 crores but now the diamond and jewellery exports today amount to 35000 crores.

Initially this was a labour intensive work but now we are dealing in big diamonds and doing value addition. Jewellers who were dealing with small diamonds are now handling and evaluating big diamonds. If you get trained in this field the opportunities are plenty for growth.