Diamond jewellery’s cutting edge has a Chinese connection

Pune, as any jewellery buyer will tell you, is a favoured market for diamond jewelry, thanks to the quality of diamonds and the exquisite workmanship of the pieces. Few however know that the hands behind the intricately and neatly set diamond jewelry in most cases these days are not Indian but Chinese!

More and more city jewellers are getting their diamond pieces made in China, thus adding yet another dimension to the country's status of a viable outsourcing station. "The reason is cheaper labour prices and better cost benefits. This especially benefits jewelers dealing in mass production. Also China caters to different markets like the European, Asian and others that makes outsourcing all the more beneficial," said Vijay Kumar Jain, the owner of Yash Jewellers on MG Road.

According to another jeweller who gets almost all his diamond pieces done from China, the finished product is also much better in quality and setting. "You will never get the same work quality here," he asserted.

While China makes a hub for manual labour, it is in Hong Kong that most of the cultural exchange happens, where jewellers from across the world meet. All this has led to globalisation of the market and exposure to more services-like that of the diamond setting option in China.

Fateh Chand Ranka, president of Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Mahamandal said the reasons for the diamond industry shifting its labour to China also lie in the unattractive tax policy of the Indian government for its businessmen. "Diamond trading is being hugely promoted in China. The local taxes over there are certainly not as high as ours. Here out of the one rupee business that we do, fifty per cent goes in taxes, while in China not only is the tax on jewelry export very less, but for the past two years the government has also declared a 'tax holiday' for those in the business," said Ranka.

According to jewellery designer Sheetal Jatin Wagle, the tax rates in India are killing. "For the ones who trade in bulk China is an ideal option and the government there is playing an active role in facilitating the market-hence the shift," said Wagle.