Russian diamond mining company Alrosa opened its representative office at Bharat Diamond Bourse, Mumbai, on April 19, 2018.
A number of industry dignitaries were present at the event, including Anoop Mehta, president, Bharat Diamond Bourse, Mehul Shah, vice president, Bharat Diamond Bourse, Milan Choksi, convenor, marketing, GJEPC and Russel Mehta, advisor to chairman, GJEPC.
Evgeny Agureev, member of the executive committee and director of the United Selling Organization of Alrosa and Jim Vimadalal, director of the Indian representative office, addressed the media.
Alrosa, one of the mining giants, accounts for about 30% of the global rough diamond supply, which means at least one in every four stones on the world market has arrived from Russia.
Agureev stated that Alrosa was keen to deepen its trade relations with the diamond and jewellery market in India, and wants to be in sync with the industry to leverage the evolving market opportunities in India. This is the direct consequence of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed between the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Alrosa on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2017.
Alrosa has had a long and successful trade collaboration with India. In the new contract period (2018-2020), Alrosa has signed 14 long-term contracts with diamond manufacturing companies in India, and it currently works with over 140 Indian companies that buy diamonds from the spot market or auctions. As a result, Alrosa directly sells 16% of its rough to India. During the calendar year 2017, it directly supplied diamonds worth almost $700 million directly to India.
Agureev noted, “Although we do not conduct any trading activities here, we will definitely be interested in attracting new customers. Our objectives are three-fold: analytical (understanding the Indian market and looking for avenues to increase Alrosa sales in India); support of our clients; and marketing activities, including building brand Alrosa.”
The mining company will also introduce an efficient synthetic detector called the Alrosa Diamond Inspector which will be efficient and affordable.
In response to a question about direct trading activity in India, Agureev said, “We end up paying a high excise duty of 40% on buying and selling diamonds directly. As of now it doesn’t seem practical, but we are hopeful that with the help of a dialogue at the highest level, taxes could drop. We are expecting a positive trajectory for India as it has a huge growth potential including strong opportunities to strengthen the demand for diamond jewellery at the retail end. The diamond jewellery market in India is developing and, thus we are opening up opportunities for productive cooperation with major retail players.”
Although Alrosa’s output was less by 3 million carats this year, Agureev said that they will help keep up the same sales volume for its clients.
Vimadalal commented, “While heading the Indian representative office in Mumbai, my key role and responsibilities would involve suggesting new clients and negotiating deals with them, exploring possibilities of cooperation, solving technical issues of the existing clients, as well as discussing opportunities for marketing and joint initiatives with the trade bodies. Our India office will drive the interactions with the industry stakeholders more efficiently. Going forward, the cooperation between Alrosa and the polished diamond manufacturers in India will continue to grow and opening the representative office in India is a logical step in that direction. We would like India’s market share to go up to 20% in the next couple of years.”