Alrosa, one of the world’s biggest diamond companies, is looking for greater engagement with India. After the recently held Russia-India Forum, trade is expected to rise further, says Evgeny Agureev, director, Alrosa United Selling Organization. Edited excerpts:

This industry is very important for India because a lot of companies are involved in this trade. Also, a lot of workers are involved. Based on statistics, we can say that from 75 to 90% of the share of all stones are polished in India. During the recent Russia-India Forum, the Indian government recognised this as an important sector.

The forum gave direction on what way the relationship can be developed. Diamond is a focus sector for the Indian government. In the coming years, you will see that the market will not only grow but also witness higher competition.

About India, I can say that many Indian companies are investing a lot in new technologies. In my view, that is the positive strategy.

For the last year, we increased the share of our total sales to Indian companies or companies with Indian capital. Now, we have 52% from our total share coming to India or Indian companies operating elsewhere. Before, it was 50%. So, the trend is positive. Based on the recent forum, my personal opinion is that it has created a very positive atmosphere. Our government and Indian government are ready to exclude any barriers in trading. It means that we can develop trading for polish diamond that will be linked to the duties. The decrease in duties and excluding duties will support this trade. Because Russia is also a big market, India can sell more polished diamonds directly to Russia. So, here I see a very big potential in the development of our cooperation.

Based on the forum, the trade volume between Russia and India will increase both in the cases of rough and polished diamonds. The turnover between the two countries will increase and should be higher and that is the key performance indicator (KPI). The current volume of bilateral trade of all goods is about $10 billion and both sides have appetite to increase this.

India is one of the biggest consumption markets for Alrosa. It is a traditional market as Indians like gold and diamonds. With the growing income of Indians, we see additional potential from one side.

From the other side, we have announced different marketing initiatives and are inviting our customers to sell the diamonds, explaining the history of the diamonds. End buyers should know the stories of the diamond they posses for additional entertainment.

At this stage it is not our focus. We are concentrating on production in Russia’s Yakutia. That is our core business.

We are inviting Indian factories and Indian companies to open polishing divisions in Russia because we have good result. One Indian group has three factories in Russia. We see there is appetite for two additional projects from India. Several companies are looking for opportunities to open factories in Russia. I can say that our local market is priority for us.

With a share of 52%, India is our biggest customer directly and indirectly. The main market is here.

We were surprised to know that such thing could happen. To my opinion, it is a fraud case involving the banking sector not that of the diamond sector. The first question must be addressed to banking regulators, and about the risk management procedures. As a result, we see that starting from the summer, Indian banks have started to increase the requirements and asking for more collaterals. It means that they are trying to bring in more regulations here. And this is a positive issue. Because that can normalise the market and structure the market in a transparent way.

We are in good dialogue with GJEPC. As an outcome of the forum, we are discussing ways how to reduce the barriers. Customs duty for polished goods is a barrier. We are also discussing ways on how to start making rupee-ruble payments for our production. With the help of GJEPC, we hope that we will exclude these barriers. With this, we can increase the efficiency.

We are very responsible company. Parallel to our mining activity, we are also searching for more new reserves.