Summary:
There is no impact of GST, whatsoever on the import of rough diamonds in India.” This is a positive sign that diamond mining companies are increasing their capacity and diamond consuming countries like India their buying capacity. In 2017, the world production of rough diamonds increased by 19 per cent to 150 million carats valued at $16 billion.It must be noted that post-GST, imports of rough diamonds attract 0.25 per cent GST. Diamond industry analysts said despite heavy increase in rough diamond prices, Indian diamantaires were undeterred.The value of rough diamonds mined in South Africa grew by 147 per cent, Botswana by 17 per cent, Russia by 15 per cent and Canada by 47 per cent.Diamond industry analyst Aniruddha Lidbide said, “Global rough diamond production has increased after almost a decade of the economic slump of 2008. India in 2017 was responsible for 40 per cent of all rough diamond imports by volume and 38 per cent by value.European Union (EU) - mainly Belgium - was again the second leading importer of rough diamonds, increasing its imports by 41 per cent in volume to 160 million carats, although the value of imports declined by a billion dollars..