Sri Lanka’s gem and jewellery industry is undergoing its most significant institutional restructuring in over 30 years, with the Government moving to merge the Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute (GJRTI) into the National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA), a reform aimed at eliminating duplication, strengthening oversight and fast-tracking the country’s ambitious US$1 billion export target.
The Cabinet of Ministers this week approved a proposal by Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Minister Sunil Handunnetti to transform the GJRTI into the dedicated Research and Training Division of the NGJA. The decision also authorises amendments under the National Gem and Jewellery Authority Act No. 50 of 1993 to facilitate the transition.
Although presented as an administrative reform, the merger addresses structural weaknesses that industry observers say have constrained the sector for nearly three decades.
The NGJA, established in 1993, serves as Sri Lanka’s principal regulator for the gem and jewellery industry. Two years later, the GJRTI was created to undertake research, technical development and vocational training. However, successive governments allowed both institutions to evolve independently, creating overlapping responsibilities, parallel policymaking and fragmented service delivery.
Officials familiar with the restructuring acknowledged that maintaining two agencies performing closely related functions led to unnecessary expenditure, duplicated programmes and inefficient use of public resources. The latest reform is intended to consolidate regulation, research, technical innovation and workforce development under a single institutional framework.
The move is expected to improve coordination between policymaking and implementation, reducing bureaucratic delays that have often slowed industry support programmes and technological adoption.
The restructuring comes as the Government seeks to position the gem and jewellery industry as a key foreign exchange earner capable of generating US$1 billion in annual exports. Analysts believe integrating research directly within the regulator could accelerate the commercial application of advanced gemstone heat-treatment technologies, precision cutting techniques and modern jewellery manufacturing processes.
The merger also carries implications beyond productivity. By combining GJRTI’s gemological expertise with the NGJA’s regulatory and enforcement functions, authorities expect to strengthen compliance with international trading standards, improve anti-money laundering safeguards and enhance transparency across the supply chain factors increasingly scrutinised by global buyers and certification bodies.
Another significant component of the reform is the alignment of vocational education with industry policy. National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) diploma programmes in gemology and jewellery manufacturing will now operate directly under the Authority, allowing training curricula to evolve alongside market demands and technological advancements.
Importantly, the GJRTI’s network of 15 regional training centres including facilities in Ratnapura, Kandy and Jaffna will continue functioning as decentralised extension centres of the NGJA. Officials say this will preserve access to technical training for miners, lapidarists, jewellery manufacturers and small-scale entrepreneurs while improving administrative efficiency.
Whether the restructuring delivers its intended economic benefits will depend on effective implementation. However after years of institutional overlap, the Government is betting that a unified authority can modernise one of Sri Lanka’s oldest export industries and unlock its long-promised global potential.
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