Finally, India will have its first ever jewellery week, the India International Jewellery Week (IIJW), from August 15 to 19 in Mumbai.

It is a fabulous platform for jewellery designers to come together and showcase their talent. This is the first time the jewellery industry will witness something like this.

The event is being organised by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India, supported by the ministry of commerce and industry. The five-day extravaganza will showcase collections of 30 designers including Farah Khan Ali, Varun D. Jani, Bina Goenka and Rhea Nasta. Well-knonw jewellery brands like Mirari, Gitanjali, Amrapali, Tanishq and Ganjam will also participate in it.

IIJW will also showcase the talents of upcoming designers from the National Institute of Design(NID) and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). The event will be held at the Hotel Grand Hyatt, Santa Cruz. There will be 1,600 stalls that will display the works of 776 exhibitors.

Pavillions of Thailand, Belgium, Israel, Italy, Turkey and the UAE will also be set up. Buyers from Japan, Russia, Britain, China, Italy, Malaysia, Libya, Morocco, Iran, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan will attend the event.
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Meanwhile, India's gems and jewellery exports are expected to rise by 15%-20% in 2010-11 on the back of increased market share in the US and also in other countries.

In US, one of the largest markets for India's gems and jewellery, India's share in total imports is expected to rise from 30% to 35% in 2010-11, which would help in sustaining the momentum of exports.

In the first three months of 2010-11 financial year that started in April, India's gems and jewellery exports rose by an impressive 57% in rupee terms and 67.5% in dollar terms from around Rs 25,858 crore to Rs 40,533 crore.

Exports of gold jewellery, which is one of big constituent of total gems and jewellery export basket rose by more than 38% in rupee terms in April-June, while that of cut and polished diamonds jumped by almost 74% also in rupee terms. In 2009-10, India exported almost $27 billion of gems and jewellery.

Not only exports rose, so also were the imports of rough diamonds, raw pearls, gold bar and others raw materials. In 2009-10, total imports into India rose by around 20% to almost 23 billion dollars. Imports are also expected to be healthy this year, Kothari said, adding that India imports most of its rough diamond requirements from Belgium and also from mining destinations.

Meanwhile, to attract new buyers, designers and others, the GJEPC is organizing a India International Jewellery Week from 15 August to 19 th August, which would followed by a jewellery exhibition from 19 th August to 23 August.