Ground-breaking ceremony of Common Facility Centre (CFC) at Bow Bazar in Kolkata was organized in the presence of Smt. Rupa Dutta (Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India), Shri Senthil Nathan (Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India), Shri Pramod Agrawal, Chairman, GJEPC; Shri Prakash Pincha, Regional Chairman, Kolkata, GJEPC, along with others.

GJEPC is setting up a Common Facility Centre at Bow Bazar with a view to enhance the productivity and quality of products, especially the small gem and Jewellery units set in Bow Bazar and its surrounding areas.

GJEPC with the support of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has already set up Common Facility Centers in Amreli, Palanpur, Visnagar and Junagadh in the state of Gujarat. CFC at Bow Bazar is being set up by GJEPC in association with Swarna Shilpa Bachao Samiti (SSBC) at Bow Bazar, Kolkata.

Smt. Rupa Dutta, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce & Industry said that the gem and Jewellery industry has been an important contributor to the economy of the country. It also employs 5 million people. The effort is to enhance the productivity and quality of products of the MSME units and make them contribute to exports. The concept of Common Facility Centre is ideal where small units can get easy access of capital-intensive facility which is beyond investment capacity of individual jewellery manufacturing unit holders.

The skill and capabilities of Bengal artisans when it comes to jewellery manufacturing is well known. Kolkata is the national jewellery hub, known for making quality and high-class designs in handmade jewellery and the CFC will provide them with an opportunity to produce jewellery keeping their process losses minimized.

The overall gem and Jewellery exports from the country accounts for USD 40 billion in 2018-19. The vision is to grow exports to USD 75 billion in the next 5 years. It is expected that Kolkata will play an important role in achieving this target.