Jewel allure: A girl holds up silver jewellery at a designing workshop. Picture by Eastern Projections

Feb. 25: The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship at Basistha has come with a four-month diploma course in jewellery designing and manufacturing which will teach students the basics of the trade.

An official at the institute said the course is being upgraded from the earlier gem stone cutting and polishing and designed in such a way that it would help the students set up his own unit after the completion of the course.

The course will have entrepreneurial inputs apart from teaching of jewellery designing and manufacturing, he added.

The course will be launched soon as all the machinery has arrived. Only a bit of electric work is left.

The programme is being supported by the Union ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises. The institute has received a few applications and is going through them.

“Since it is supported by a government department, candidates should not harbour any doubt on the genuineness of the course,” the official said.

The official said they would like to get more candidates from the region as the course will help them get alternative livelihoods.

Artisans working in jewellery houses can also apply as entrepreneurs would require expert hands. “We will provide all the support needed to find a market for the products,” the official said.

The Institute has set up a training and incubation centre for promotion of gem and jewellery enterprises in the region.

It also has a tie-up with Centre for Development of Gems and Jewellery in Jaipur for those who would like to take up a career in jewellery.

With an eye on the booming sector, private organisations have launched jewellery-designing schools.