Alrosa, one of the largest diamond mining companies, has moved closer to its customer by opening a representative office at the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai. Though the Russian company will not do any trading in its Mumbai office, it will prepare the ground to bring rough diamonds for viewing by cut-and-polish traders and later auction them.
Jim B Vimadalal, Director and Indian representative of Alrosa, said the tax incidence on selling rough diamond in India is high at 40 per cent and both the Indian and Russian governments are working on a solution to bring this down.
In 2017, Alrosa sold 39.6 million carat of roughs worth $43 billion and India accounted for 16 per cent in value terms. However, the production this year is expected to be lower by seven per cent at 36.6-million carat due to shut down of production at its Mir underground mine in eastern Siberia. Asked if the lower roughs supply will push up prices, which has remained stagnant for long, Vimadalal said the company has always strived to keep the prices low and the cut in supply has nothing to do with pushing up prices.