At the fourth meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade (BoT) held in New Delhi on 25th November, Shaunak Parikh, Vice Chairman, GJEPC, and Sabyasachi Ray, Executive Director, GJEPC, joined industry leaders and policymakers for discussions led by Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry.

The GJEPC leadership also interacted with Rajesh Aggarwal, Commerce Secretary, during the meeting, which focused on India’s export momentum, the economic outlook, and the government’s ongoing push to strengthen the country’s global trade position.

Parikh thanked the Minister for launching the Export Promotion Mission and for placing the gem and jewellery sector in the priority list. He noted the upcoming EU and G7 requirements that call for full traceability of diamonds from January 2026. He urged the Ministry to recommend extending the implementation timeline to at least July 2026, or until global standards, guidelines and pilot systems are finalized.

Mr. Parikh also raised concerns about restrictions on gold, silver and platinum alloy and jewellery imports. He requested that licences for non-FTA countries, where no duty benefit exists, be issued through the automatic route to ease business operations for exporters.

The BoT meeting also reviewed progress on major trade facilitation initiatives, including the rapid expansion of the Trade Connect e-Platform, improvements in grievance redressal, the extension of the RoDTEP scheme, and advances made in digital Certificates of Origin.