20th Year of the Jaipur Jewellery Show

The Jaipur Jewellery Show (JJS) in its 20th year, with the vision to give an impetus to the Gems and Jewellery trade and to place Jaipur on the World Gem & Jewellery map, was organised from 23 – 26 December 2022 at the Jaipur Exhibition & Convention Centre (JECC) in Sitapura, Jaipur. The theme of this year’s show was ‘Emerald…Timeless Elegance’. The show witnessed participation in large numbers, both from visitors and traders along with exquisite displays of jewellery, gemstones, artefacts, machineries etc.

Inaugural Ceremony

In the Inaugural ceremony of JJS 2022, Mr. Vipul Shah, Chairman, Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), in his address as the Guest of honour, said that they had put forth suggestions for the Union Budget 2023-24. In this regard, they had also recommended reduction in import duty on cut and polished gemstones from 5% to 2.5%. The reduction in import duty will have a positive impact on jewellery exports.

He further said that the Pink City is a big name in the Gems and Jewellery sector where JJS is playing a vital role in promoting innovative designs in gems and jewellery. India’s foreign trade agreements with countries such as the UAE and Australia have accelerated the export momentum by giving gems and jewellery exporters preferential access to these markets and their neighboring regions. He also informed that GJEPC would organize the 2nd edition of IGJS in Jaipur from 1st to 3rd April 2023. On this occasion, Chairman, All India Gem and Jewellery Council (GJC), Mr. Ashish Pethe, in his address as the Guest of Honour, said that JJS and GJC have a longstanding relationship. He thanked the JJS team for hosting GJC each year. Mr. Pethe said that this is the 20th year of JJS, which is a big success in itself. JJS’s new initiative ‘Pink Club’ is a very unique initiative and is the need of the hour. This will take JJS to new heights. He said that the chairmen of all the three important councils of the industry are present on the same platform today. He also suggested making an annual calendar of all the events, so that the events could be organized smoothly.

Chairman, National Gems and Jewellery Council of India, Mr. Pramod Derewala was also present as the Guest of Honour for the ceremony. He said that every year JJS is held with innovation. I believe JJS is the country’s no.1 show. Mr. Derewala said that if there is any issue or problem related to this industry, then it should be brought to the fore. We will try our best to solve these problems soon. He further said that apart from Jaipur being the Emerald Capital, our contribution in Kundan-Meena is also commendable.

On this occasion, JJS Hon. Secretary, Mr. Rajiv Jain recapitulated the highlights and traditions of this year’s JJS. He informed that there were total 903 booths in JJS 2022. Of these, 245 booths displayed gemstones, 574 booths displayed jewellery. Similarly, there were 68 booths of allied machinery, and about 17 booths of costume jewellery and artifacts. While 86 percent of the exhibitors were repeat exhibitors, JJS hosted over 600 buyers this year. He said that on the demand of traders, this year JJS also added a new B2B attraction called ‘Pink Club’. The pavilion had 51 pre-fabricated booths for B2B interactions. Jain said that the aim of JJS has always been to promote trade. He also said that there should be a gap between such shows and exhibitions so that there is no inconvenience to the visitors and buyers.

Earlier, in the inaugural ceremony, Mr. Dinesh Khatoria, Vice Chairman, JJS, in his welcome address, welcomed all the guests and said that starting with 67 stalls at Entertainment Paradise (EP) in 2003, this year JJS is hosting 903 booths. Every year at JJS we decide a theme and promote it throughout the year. This year’s theme is ‘Emerald…Timeless Elegance’. To promote Emerald, a group of 13 members has been formed as Emerald Promotion Group, with Gemfields as the Prime Emerald Promotion Partner. 

The opening ceremony of the show was moderated by Mr. Ajay Kala, spokesperson of JJS. The inaugural function started with the lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guests followed by the release of the JJS Show Guide. 5 women entrepreneurs were felicitated after the inaugural function for their contribution to the Gems and Jewellery sector, which included Leela Bordia, Hetal Vakil Walia, Emily Chakraborty, Kichu Dandiya and Chitwan D. Malhotra.

Thronged with Visitors

A large number of jewellery lovers thronged the Jaipur Jewellery Show (JJS) at JECC, Sitapura on the second day. Not only the residents of Jaipur, but many foreign tourists who came to visit Jaipur at year-end were also a part of the December show. The visitors interacted with the stall owners about the different types of jewellery. Interacting with the interested buyers, resolving their queries and meeting the demand was also encouraging for the exhibitors of the show. Visitors got a chance to choose from traditional heavy gold jewellery to new trends in lightweight jewellery.

Jadau jewellery, Emerald, Kundan, Meena and Polki jewellery enthralled the visitors at the show. At the same time, Temple Jewellery of South was also a centre of attraction for visitors. The idols of Gods in the show were also very much liked by the visitors. In this, idols of Lord Salasar and Khatu Shyam made of gold and silver, Tirupati Balaji’s court made of silver and the Polki work done on it added to its beauty.

Designer Booths at JJS 2022

Like every year at JJS, this time also the main attraction was the designer booths. These booths were built on their special themes and are attracting the attention of visitors. In JJS 2022, about 67 percent of the brands had designer booths, which made them different from other booths. The beautiful designer booth with Aangan Jewellery Collection theme had vintage cars displayed in the booth which was a visual treat for the visitors. On the other hand, the design of one of the booths was inspired from the culture and heritage of India. A beautiful collection of handcrafted Jadau Kundan Meena and Polki jewellery was available at the booth.

Apart from this, earrings, bangles and attractive necklaces were also liked by visitors at various stalls. Along with Gemstones and Jewellery, the show also had a number of booths for allied machinery, costume jewellery and artefacts as usual.

JJDF becomes a platform for young designers

Jaipur Jewellery Design Festival (JJDF) was organized for the fifth time this year to encourage designers at Jaipur Jewellery Show. Organized on the theme ‘Think Global act Local’, JJDF provided a platform to students from 5-6 leading designing institutes, where these young designers showcased their creativity and skills. JJDF 2022 brought alive the creativity of Jaipur through artisans and designers along with the participation of budding designers from leading design institutes. JJDF also had booths by three brands – Maleeha, Neerja Blue Pottery and Princess Diya Kumari Foundation (PDKF) – showcasing handcrafted jewellery made by using local materials. While wooden jewellery was displayed by Maleeha, beautiful jewellery made of blue pottery and white metal was displayed at Neerja Blue Pottery’s booth. Similarly, the artistic jewellery made of fabric and crochet from PDKF was also the centre of attraction. The festival features product displays by renowned jewellery designer brands to artistically display gemstones, seminars, panel discussions, virtual displays of jewellery, and many more. Apart from these, the library, cafeteria and live music were also enjoyed.

It is worth mentioning that in the year 2017, JJS showcased the art of making gemstones and the skill of carving gems, the priceless heritage of Jaipur jewellery, and the skill of the unique artisans in the year 2017. The Jaipur Jewellery Design Festival (JJDF) was started with the aim to promote the art of Gem and Design as well as to provide a platform to artisans and young designers from various Jewellery and Designing Institutes.

Lifetime Achievement Award to Vimal Chand Surana

Vimal Chand Surana, Convener, JJS Organising Committee, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the JJS-Indian Jeweler Design Awards, organized by ‘Indian Jeweller’, the country’s leading magazine in the field of gems and jewellery. The award was presented by Chairman, RSIC, Shri Rajiv Arora to his family members. Mr Surana was given this honour for his remarkable contribution to the gems and jewellery sector. Mr Surana, Director of Bhuramal Rajmal Surana Jewels Pvt Ltd, became the Director of GEM Builders & Developers Pvt Ltd in the year 1989 and Director of Jaipur GEM Bourse in 1997. JJS, which started from only 67 booths in the year 2003, was given new heights by Mr Surana, who became the chairman of the JJS committee after Mr Rashmikant Durlabhji. Under his leadership, today JJS has become the leading B2B and B2C show in the country with more than 900 booths.

Mr Surana entered the family business of Gems and Jewelery Industry at the age of 20, and has gained international recognition. Surana’s is the most trusted brand in Kundan-Meena. Shri Vimal Chandra Surana is directly associated with Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital, Vipassana and Vidhya ashram School and is contributing to these institutions.

Networking evening and awards

On the evening of the second day of the Jaipur Jewellery Show, a grand networking evening and a live performance by The Frequency Project band were organized at Hotel Crown Plaza. This year’s brand ambassador of JJS and actress and model Mehak Chahal was also present at the event. During the event, the exhibitors got an opportunity to network with top retailers and buyers of JJS.

Emerald is being promoted through various activities for the last six months under the theme ‘Emerald…Timeless Elegance’ for the 20th year of JJS. This promotion will continue till the next March. The 13-member Emerald Promotion Group was presented with a trophy by Shri Gopal Kumar, India Head, Gemfields; Dinesh Khatoria, Convener; Kamal Kothari, Co-Convener and Rajiv Jain, JJS Secretariat during the networking evening. On behalf of Gemfields, Mr Gopal Kumar received a trophy. Gemfields was the promotion partner in this group.

Best booth and runner-up prizes were given away in various categories on the occasion. The awards were given by JJS Brand Ambassador Mehak Chahal. Tristar International Corporation was adjudged the first winner in the Gemstones &Jewellery Booth category of 9 square metres, while Tirupati Art Jewellery was adjudged the runner-up. The Best Gemstones Booth in the category of more than 9 square meters was awarded to Allied Gems Corporation, while Real Pearls by Bunty Motiwala was awarded the runner-up award. Similarly, in the jewellery section, the award for the Best Booth of 18 square metres was given to Nine Jewellery. Purple Jewels Pvt Ltd was the runner-up in this category. In the jewellery section, the Best Booth above 18 square metres was awarded to GK Chudiwalas, while the runner-up award was given to Birdhichand Ghanshyam Das.

‘Pink Club’ Centre of Attraction

Being a holiday and Christmas festival, a record 15,000 visitors witnessed JJS on the third day. They shopped for their favourite jewellery here from an exclusive range of Gems and Jewellery. This made the exhibitors very excited. It is believed to be the best version of JJS to date. Indian High Commissioner in Zambia, Ashok Kumar visited JJS and showed interest in Jaipur Gems industry and emeralds. It is noteworthy that visitors from 30 countries visited JJS.

JJS’s biggest innovation of the year, their new B2B initiative ‘Pink Club’ continued to be the centre of attraction. Talking about the Pink Club, JJS Secretary, Mr Rajiv Jain informed that on the demand of the traders, this year ‘Pink Club’ was also added in JJS, so that traders can do their business. The booth owners got very positive responses from B2B interactions as only ‘focused customers’ came there. The Pink Club was strategically placed between Halls 1 and 2 for the convenience of traders, so that traders and buyers can visit this club according to their business preferences. Talking about naming this special B2B Traders Pavilion as Pink Club, he said that keeping in view the speciality of the city of Jaipur; this B2B section was aptly named ‘Pink Club’. An exclusive lounge and complimentary tea/coffee and Wi-Fi were also made available in this pavilion for the convenience of the traders.

The four-day Jaipur Jewellery Show (JJS) concludes

Organized at JECC, Jaipur spread over 2.5 lakh square feet, the Jaipur Jewellery Show was attended by more than 45,000 visitors and traders over the four days. Not only the organizers, but also the exhibitors were very excited to see the positive response received at this year’s JJS.

Chairman, Rajasthan Small Industries Corporation, Mr Rajiv Arora was the Chief Guest of the closing ceremony. He said that JJS which started with 65 booths has now grown to more than 900 booths which clearly show its success. He said that networking is the biggest earning in the 21st century and JJS has played an important role in increasing it. Mr Arora further informed that Jaipur is now emerging as the fastest growing center not only for colour stones but also for jewellery manufacturing. In the Covid period, the work of jewellery manufacturing continued with protocols, that is why its market has increased from Rs 800 crores to Rs 6600 crores. He said that with the involvement of design colleges and institutes, JJS provides a wide range of all types of jewellery along with raw materials, machinery, so JJS can be rightly called a one-stop show. Mr Arora presented the Best Institute award to IIGJ, Sitapura on the occasion.

JJS Hon.Secretary, Mr Rajiv Jain informed about the 4-day journey of JJS. He said that in view of the increasing demand of the exhibitors in JJS, the number of booths in JJS may increase to more than 1000 next year. In the initial survey, most of the exhibitors have demanded to increase the size of the booth and clarify the nature of B2B and B2C. Mr. Jain said that all the exhibitors of Pink Club were very happy and satisfied with this new initiative. Next year the Pink Club will be given a new look and a wider scale.

Earlier, Vice Chairman, JJS, Dinesh Khatoria, while delivering the welcome speech said that this time JJS has registered participation of representatives from more than 30 countries and business has been much better than expected. He said that this time the exhibitors of the new initiative Pink Club have also received a very good response.

Spokesperson, JJS Mr Ajay Kala conducted the closing ceremony. He said that this time JJS has been the best show ever in terms of business as well as management. It turned out to be the most comprehensive, dazzling, anda unique show ever. He thanked all the exhibitors, sellers and visitors for the success of the show.

At the closing ceremony, the vendors associated with the event were given mementoes for their cooperation. Most of these have been associated with JJS since its inception in 2003.

Demonstration of jewellery manufacturing machinery as well

Along with gems and jewellery, visitors also showed interest in jewellery related products and machinery at JJS. The show saw the participation of 68 leading vendors from Allied Machinery for Jewellery Manufacturing at the booths. Their stalls displayed state-of-the-art machinery used in various processes ranging from CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) of jewellery making to printing, polishing and plating. The working process of the machines was also explained through demonstrations at some booths. JJS exhibitors deeply understand the role of technology in improving the efficiency of the design and manufacturing process. The show featured machinery used for 3D printing, designing, casting, finishing, laser welding, ball making, laser marking and soldering. Similarly, jewellery plating equipment, enamalling, transparent and color coating and other jewellery finishing machinery also attracted visitors.