India has in the last decade become the biggest global producer and biggest global consumer of gold and jewellery products. A traditional industry like Italy’s can therefore find enormous development potential in a market which in the last five years has experienced growth in consumption of 11% and which needs around 850 tons of gold annually or about 40% of global production. From the 7^th to the 11^th of August, the IIJS trade fair (India International Jewellery Show, www.iijs.org ) is planned for Mumbai. The “Made in Italy” jewellery sector is getting ready to participate for the fourth year at the event, thanks to the initiative of the ICE (Italian Institute for Foreign Trade) which has included the event in its own 2008 Promotional Programme. Manufacturing companies in the jewellery and goldsmith, coral and engraving sectors – as well as those involved in silver jewellery and the use of precious or semi-precious stones – will be able to take part within the collective group organised by the ICE

The India International Jewellery Show is one of the major events in the jewellery and gold sector within India and one of the most important exhibitions for the sector within Asia: it provides opportunities to meet specialised buyers who operate in the Indian market and in neighbouring countries. The 2007 edition hosted delegations coming from “traditional” manufacturing nations (Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Turkey, United States, China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and South Korea) as well as new emerging economies (Thailand, Bangladesh, Hungary, Cyprus, Iran, Pakistan, Poland, Kuwait, Egypt, Mexico and numerous Latin American countries). In total, there were 740 exhibitors and they attracted around 25 thousand visitors.

The objective of Italy’s participation is to satisfy the Indian consumer’s growing interest in quality products. This ambition perfectly complements Italian companies’ aims, geared towards increasing the popularity of their own products in a market where consumers have more and more choice each year thanks to the constant increase in income per capita. The Indian economy has been going through a growth phase for a number of years: economic growth in 2007 should have stood at around 9.2% (with an average of 8% in the latest three-year period) thereby exceeding all expectations and notching a record for the last 20 years. In the first three months of 2008, the value of Italian exports of jewels and gold articles to India increased by 67%, progressing from 1.54 to 2.57 million Euros. Over the whole of 2007, the value of Italian exports amounted to 10.02 million Euros (+12% on 2006).

The partnership in the jewellery sector between Italian and Indian industry has been active for a number of years now, but has yet to develop its full potential: it currently focuses on the production of jewellery products which use Italian design, machinery supply and manufacturing and marketing joint ventures. Local red tape and import duties are acting as a brake on the opportunities which India offers. However, India’s economic growth and the emergence of an increasingly significant middle class interested in new lifestyles, lead us to believe that the links between Indian and Italian operators in the Subcontinent will gradually intensify in the next few years.