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Gems & jewellery exports up 20% during April-September
The country’s gems and jewellery exports grew at over 20% in the first half of 2007-08, reviving from 2006-07, helped by cuts in import duties of rough jewels, according to the annual economic survey on Thursday. Exports from the sector, comprising diamonds, gold jewellery and coloured gemstones, formed 12% of the country’s merchandise exports in 2006-07, according to the survey presented in parliament by finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. The survey did not provide the growth rate for the sector in 2006-07, but said there had been a “deceleration in the rate of growth of exports” from the sector during the period.