India’s earnings from gem and jewelry exports in the April to October period rose 29% to $5.22 billion due to continued good demand from major importing countries including the U.S., the Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council said Wednesday.

India exported $4.04 billion in gems and jewelry in the same period a year ago, the Dow Jones news service reports.

“The increase in earnings can be seen right from November and December (2001) ; its not sudden,” V.S.A. Sury, secretary at GJEPC, reportedly said. “The U.S. has been showing improvement as far as our exports are concerned.”

Gem and jewelry exports are the countrys’s largest foreign exchange earners and make up nearly a fifth of the country’s exports revenue. The U.S., the world’s largest market of gems and jewelry, accounts for about half of India’s annual exports.

Earnings from exports of cut and polished diamonds in the April to October period also increased 29% to $4.16 billion from $3.23 billion in the corresponding period last year, GJEPC said.

Diamonds alone accounted for about 80% of India’s total gems and jewelry sales.

JCK