Rajasthan’s gems and jewellery market is facing an acute shortage of workers at a time when business is picking up substantially.
In FY22-23, Rajasthan had exported around Rs 9,470 crore worth of gems and jewellery, and the trade volume stood at around Rs 11,180 crore in FY24.
Once a major manufacturing hub for coloured gemstones, the state has seen labour shortages push China past India in gemstone manufacturing thanks to its cutting-edge technology and cheap labour, said Kailash Mittal, president of the Sarafa Traders Committee. Experts fear the shortage could cripple trade.
“Most of the gem cutting and polishing in China is done by machines, which helps reduce the cost of labour. This has led to the work on coloured and semi-precious stones moving to China, leaving artisans in Rajasthan out of work,” Mittal said. This is pushing artisans to look for other avenues of employment, he said.
Mittal said gemstone traders in Jaipur can also manufacture gems by installing machines, but they avoid it because mechanical cutting and polishing of gems reduces their quality. Instead, traders prefer manual cutting and polishing of expensive gems.
Jeweller Vikas Kothari said that the Union Labour Ministry does not consider the millions of people working in the jewellery industry as workers. There has been a long-standing demand for registration of workers associated with this sector as workers. Due to non-availability of a labour diary, workers are unable to get the benefits of labour schemes set up by the central and state governments.
According to Kothari, there are about 10 million workers across the country directly or indirectly associated with this trade. Most of the work of cutting and polishing precious jewellery is done in Jaipur, Surat and Navsari. Kolkata is a major centre for gold jewellery manufacturing.
First published: September 6, 2024 | 17:14 IS
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