First-Ever Virtual Buyer Seller Meet For Loose Diamonds Commences

NEW DELHI || The two-day, first Virtual Buyer and Seller Meet for loose diamonds virtual meet, organised by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India (GJEPC), the apex body for promotion of Gems and Jewellery Exports, kicked off on Friday. It was inaugurated by Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

The meet will give an opportunity for buyers and exhibitors to connect and talk business over the virtual platform. In his opening remarks, Suresh Kumar, congratulated the Council’s efforts and said, “Virtual buying-selling formats will be the new normal going forward. As we do not know how fast this scenario is going to change, and we cannot wait for the pandemic to go away, so it’s prudent to shift to a virtual platform through which buyers and sellers can continue doing business in confidentiality with secured measures" he said.

He further noted that he was happy that this is one of India’s most promising sectors in terms of merchandise exports. Although the trade has been hit because of the pandemic, we should capitalise on every growth opportunity, especially since green shoots of revival are visible in markets like the USA, China, and Europe.

This is a great new beginning for the sector which must continue using this virtual platform extensively and make it a part of your regular marketing activity to connect with buyers from different countries and sectors.

While addressing the inauguration ceremony Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC said, “The pandemic has forced us to think out of the box. Although the pandemic has taken its toll, there have been good positives, markets like America and China are coming back strongly and this should translate into recovery of exports for us. Supply of rough was constrained so the polished prices remained stable.”

Speaking on the future plans of GJEPC, he said, “India is the preferred destination for sourcing superior quality diamonds and the VBSM format is user-friendly with inbuilt security measures. We are planning to hold such VBSMs in the near future for diamond and gold-studded jewellery, platinum jewellery, and costume jewellery.”

Some of the salient features of this Virtual Buyer Seller Meet include Cloud storage for secure online trading; buyer-seller matching, optimal choice for buyers and sellers to choose gamut of options exhibited by the exhibitors, life-like experience simulation, since the format is virtual, no physical contact and conduct business from home or office, watertight parameters for trustworthiness, enhanced networking opportunity.