India's gold jewellery exports to UAE jump on duty free imports

India's plain gold jewellery exports to the United Arab Emirates jumped in May and June after the Gulf state allowed duty free imports from the south Asian country, a leading trade body said on Thursday.

The United Arab Emirates and India signed a broad trade and investment pact in February aiming at increasing annual trade between the two nations to $100 billion within five years.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was implemented from May 1.


India's plain gold jewellery exports to UAE in May jumped 72% from a year ago to 10.48 billion rupees ($131.16 million), while in June the exports jumped 69% to 145.2 billion rupees, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said.

"Plain gold jewellery exports have been the immediate beneficiary of the India-UAE CEPA," said Colin Shah, chairman of GJEPC.

India's gems and jewellery exports in June jumped to $3.24 billion from $2.83 billion a year ago as demand was robust from the United States, Hong Kong and Belgium and Israel, the GJEPC said in a statement.