Rajasthan expects a healthy 15 per cent year on year (Y-o-Y) growth in exports of dimensional stones in the current financial year (FY24), a top trade expert has said. Rakesh Gupta, vice chairman, of the Centre for Development of Stones (CDOS), said the export of dimensional stones from Rajasthan in the last financial year FY23 was estimated at over Rs 3,570 crore.
India possesses a wide spectrum of dimensional stones that include granite, marble, sandstone, limestone and slate in various parts of the country, including Rajasthan where all kinds of stones are found. The desert state accounts for more than 90 per cent of marble, Kota stone and sandstone production in India. Granite is also found in abundance in the state.
Gupta, who has decades of experience in the stone industry, feels that the exports from the state would be more if the stones transported from Rajasthan were not exported from Delhi and Mumbai.
The interest in stones from the state can be gauged from the fact that in the recently-held four-day ‘India StoneMart 2024’ exhibition starting on February 1, there were queries of around Rs 3,000 crore, he said, adding that over 325 exhibitors, including foreigners, took part in the event.
Enthused by the response to the exhibition, the trade experts are hopeful that the exports will jump 10-15 per cent in FY24.