Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 12 (ANI): Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu on Saturday said the need of the hour is to have a banking system that understands the jewellery business properly in the country.

"Gold, gems, and jewellery and diamond give huge employment opportunities in India. We will like to have a banking system that understands the business properly. Banks should not take any undue risk which is not understandable and quantifiable," he said at a summit here on May 11.

He further said the government will never encourage any wrongdoers in the industry.

"We will never encourage wrongdoers in the industry but will ask our financial system to support all genuine players in the gems and jewellery sector. This is essential to help the industry," he added.

On a related note, absconding jewellery designer Nirav Modi, along with his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, was at the centre of a multi-crore loan default scam that hit the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

The scam, which reportedly began in 2011, was detected in the third week of January this year after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned agencies.

Both Modi and Choksi managed to flee the country in the first week of January, just days before the PNB detected the fraud. (ANI)