The sales tax authorities in Maharashtra have been conducting raids on the diamond exporters on the presumption that they are selling diamonds in the local market. Exporters who import diamonds for value-added exports are not allowed to sell their wares in the domestic market.

"The raids continue indiscriminately in spite of constant appeals form the exporters," said GJEPC chairman Pravinchandra Pandya. "The sales tax officials find exporters an easy prey as they hold large stocks at any given time and are under constant pressure to meetdeadlines and schedules to customers abroad."

"At a time when the overall exports are falling and the ministry of commerce is helping the sector to boost exports through various policy changes, it is surprising that the Maharashtra government is creating a non-conducive environment for business in the state. The damage inflicted on the exporters will be much higher than the forcible collection by the state tax department," he added.

Meanwhile, "if the Christmas season is good this year, we expect to notch an export target of $1 billion, up from $840 million recorded in 1997-98," said Pandya. It is this target that the industry aims to achieve partly by way of its collective marketing effort through the IIJS-98.

Commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde is scheduled to flag off IIJS-98. About 10,000 visitors are expected to participate in IIJS-98 from countries like Middle East, US, Europe and the south-east Asian countries.

Further, the design and skilled manpower is said to be lacking in the industrywhich claims to be one of the leading exporters of the country. Thus, in order to attract fresh talent, the organisers of IIJS-98 have decided to conduct educational seminars for students. The courses will be conducted by SNDT University, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Jewellery Product Development Centre (JPDC) Mumbai/ Delhi, Gemological Institute of India and the Indian Diamond Institute, Surat (Gujarat).

Both De Beers and Argyle (former associates, separated in June 1996) will chalk out their own marketing strategies to attract new buyers. While De Beers will display 50 of its best designs selected from the recently held 10th Indian Jewellery Design Competition, Argyle has sponsored a diamond jewellery fashion show.