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India
By Zainab Morbiwala
A marginal improvement in demand and sale of polished diamonds during the month of April generated a feeling of optimism in the Indian gems and jewelry industry. According to industry sources, China and the U.S. have been showing a steady demand, which is boosting industry morale — a fact that has an industry player, who asked not to be identified, sounding upbeat. And a new report in the Economic Times emphasizes this trend, stating that the prices of certain categories of polished diamonds have risen as much as 5 percent in just one month. There is, however, a word of caution coming from an industry member who spoke on condition of anonymity, “India has to relax its tax structures. The import duty on gold has to be tackled tactfully. There is a rise in the price of gold of late and this will affect the diamond industry as well. And again, we also see China fast catching up with diamond cutting and polishing, which so far has been India’s forte. While it’s extremely important that we strongly work toward ensuring that synthetic and natural diamonds are not mixed, we also need to work equally hard on maintaining our leadership position. It is indeed good that the industry is focusing on jewelry designing, but we need to remember that maintaining our strength in what we are good at is more important.” As expressed in an article in The Times of India, Surat’s diamond industry is all set to glitter with direct business links to the world’s second-largest diamond center in Dubai following the proposed launch of international service by Air India (AI) beginning May 15. Recently, a growing portion of trade in rough diamonds has been shifting from the Belgian port city of Antwerp to Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the past couple of years, Dubai has emerged as the second biggest market for rough diamond trading, with many Indian diamond companies and leading export houses setting up offices at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).
The world’s leading gemological laboratories showcased machinery, equipment and technology at the second Diamond Detection Expo & Symposium (DDES) 2017 held in Surat from April 14 to 15. The two-day event was jointly organized by Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee (NDMC). At a separate meeting, Dinesh Navadia, president, Surat Diamond Association (SDA), along with several members of the trade, took a pledge to preserve the reputation of Surat and refrain from indulging in any malpractice. Praveenshankar Pandya, GJEPC chairman, announced a special 50 percent discount for all associations in Surat and nearby areas wanting to install diamond detection machines. He explained, “DDES is one of several strategic initiatives to preserve the global trade and consumer confidence in diamonds from India. By leveraging digital initiatives, we intend to modernize key jewelry manufacturing hubs across India, empowering them with sophisticated detection tools and techniques, to safeguard ourselves against undisclosed mixing of synthetics. Mixing in any form is unacceptable.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project — “Make in India”— has been a part of his philosophy for the three years that he has been in office. In a recent speech during a function in Surat, where he inaugurated a diamond polishing unit of Hari Krishna Exports at the Hira Bourse special economic zone (SEZ), Modi asked the industry players from the city to take a lead in making India the top gems and jewelry sector in the world. During his speech, he elaborated, “As far as the gems and jewelry sector is concerned, our aim should not only be ‘Make in India’ but also ‘Design in India.’ Our jewelers have worked hard over the generations to design jewelry according to the seasons and moods. Our traditional jewelry designs have the potential to attract customers across the world.” Modi went on to state that the country should look beyond just diamond cutting and polishing: “We need to make consumers across the globe interested in ‘Design in India’ jewelry.”
In its continuing efforts to strengthen the Indian gems and jewelry industry, GJEPC has taken the lead in encouraging mining companies to look to India for the mining of diamonds. Exploration has already begun in the two states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It must be noted that this is the first time that the industry has approached diamond miners individually for exploring mining activities in the country, after Rio Tinto announced in August 2016 that it would shut down the diamond-mining project in Bunder, Madhya Pradesh. The miner later gifted it to the government in 2017. In a news report that appeared in the Economic Times, Pandya, noted, “Finding new diamond mines is always difficult. Our country has a lot of deposits. We have asked diamond miners to look for mining opportunities in India and urged Piyush Goyal, minister of state with independent charge for power, coal, new and renewable energy and mines, to take the Bunder project forward.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - May 2017. To subscribe click here.
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