India all set to be a world diamond trading hub

There’s a speculation in the Indian diamond industry that is slowly getting louder. With the old diamond centralized supply chain crumbling like nine pin and London becoming more and more irrelevant as a diamond trading centre, in addition to finance minister P Chidambaram’s announcement that the government is all set to made the import of polished diamonds completely duty free, Mumbai could well turn out to be an alternative world diamond trading hub.

There is no doubt that announcement by government to have zero duty on import of polished diamonds has given a boost to the Indian diamond industry. If experts are to be believed, it is the pivotal step in the direction of Mumbai becoming the world’s biggest diamond trading country instead of the world’s biggest diamond manufacturing country.

There is no doubt that announcement by government to have zero duty on import of polished diamonds has given a boost to the Indian diamond industry. If experts are to be believed, it is the pivotal step in the direction of Mumbai becoming the world’s biggest diamond trading country instead of the world’s biggest diamond manufacturing country.

It is worth mentioning in this regard that India imported $1986.53 million worth of cut & polished diamonds in FY07. With this category being completely exempted from import duty, one can safely say that the industry will have witness a surge of diamonds of wide array of shapes and sizes needed for jewellery fabrication.

It is worth mentioning in this regard that India imported $1986.53 million worth of cut & polished diamonds in FY07. With this category being completely exempted from import duty, one can safely say that the industry will have witness a surge of diamonds of wide array of shapes and sizes needed for jewellery fabrication.

Because of a dip in US demand and volatile gold prices, the export of polished diamonds from India decreased by 6% during the first 11 months of the fiscal year. Though, total exports, including diamond-studded gold jewelry and colored gem stones, grew by 5% during this period.

Another significant factor that is likely to help India is the change in the world supply chain. For such a long time, London served as a pivotal point of the supply chain. Despite the much-publicized fact that India processes 10 of the 11 diamonds worldwide, India has always been touted as a manufacturing centre while London and Antwerp are the real centres for diamond trading.

Over the last few months, there have been modifications though few of these were long in the making. According to experts, historically Europe get rough produced in India, Brazil, or Africa, either solely or mostly via London. Now things are totally different. In other word, London is voluntarily relinquishing its historical role, moving away from a centralized supply-controlled distribution and toward a more competitive demand-driven diamond market.

Statistic wise, of the 93 global DTC Sight holders, 37 is based in India. While the Diamdel network (a trading company floated by De Beers) in other trading countries will dip to merely symbolic presences. Taking all this into account, the Indian equivalent (the 50:50 joint venture with the government called the Hindustan Diamond Company), which at the moment serves 238 small and medium size non-sight holder manufacturing companies, is set to make its presence felt in the coming months.

Most importantly, the Reserve Bank of India has permitted advance payment without any bank guarantee for procurement of rough diamonds from five mining companies - Rio Tinto, BHP, Endiama, Alrosa, and Gokhran. Lots of companies are exploring the possibility of investments in rough producing mines as well.

Talking about Alrosa, Russia’s biggest diamond company, there has been an agreement for direct procurement. It is worthwhile pointing that the company has agreed to provide diamonds worth $15 million to Indian companies. With India having a prominent role to play in processing diamonds, such commitment of rough supply in general will ensure a level playing field for the Indian diamond industry.