The authorities is assured that the G7 nations’ transfer to dam the entry of Russian diamonds into their markets will have a minimal disruption to India’s diamond processing companies as an answer is in sight, prime commerce officers mentioned on Friday.
As per a plan conveyed by the G7 bloc, all Russian diamonds of 1 carat and above will not be accepted into their international locations from March 1, 2024, and the curbs will be expanded to diamonds of half a carat or decrease from September with traceability methods to be put in place.
Stating that India was in contact with the EU and G7’s technical groups, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal mentioned that tough Russian diamonds have been usually small and people reduce and polished by India have been of lower than 0.5 carats, so the impression of the G7 curbs could be lower than initially anticipated. “We should be able to export our diamonds without disturbing the proposed sanctions on Russia,” he mentioned.
“They also understand we are an important player because we polish 90-95% of the diamonds of the world, and if there’s an issue with us, the entire industry suffers,” mentioned one other official, noting that India’s interventions had led to some fine-tuning within the G7’s plans.
The G7 is now proposing the organising of a node inside their territory to trace all of the diamonds that ultimately discover their approach to the markets.
“India does not directly import diamonds from producing countries but through various mixing centres such as Antwerp or UAE and nearly 99% of the diamonds do not come to us directly. If they come to us via UAE or via the G7 node, it actually doesn’t make a difference to us,” the official defined.
