Glittering touch

Mumbai, May 26: India will soon add more sparkle to its reputation.

The world’s largest gold consumer will overtake the US and become the biggest consumer market for diamond jewellery in the next three years.

That is the forecast of Rapaport Group — the largest manager of diamond data in the world.

India is already the world’s largest importer of diamond roughs.

Rapaport Group has started to stake out the market anticipating a glittering future for diamonds in India.

As a first step, the group today announced the launch of its price list in Indian rupees. Its famed price list is used by the diamond industry as the benchmark. This list, which was till now not available in Indian rupees, is based on its opinion of the asking price levels.

The rupee price list, which will be published every Friday, will be a conversion of prices from dollars to rupee based on the RBI’s reference rate on Thursday. The move indicates the growing influence of India in the global diamond trade.

Rapaport’s price list does not provide transaction prices but indications that may serve as a starting point for negotiations and a basis for estimating value for a broad range of diamond sizes and qualities. Transaction prices are the result of negotiations between the buyer and the seller and reflect numerous factors, including the physical characteristics of specific diamonds, terms of condition of sale, and service to customers. Transaction prices may be substantially higher or lower than the list prices.

“India’s net diamond account doubled from $1.67 billion last year to $3.37 billion. At this growth rate India will overtake the US as the primary consumer market for diamonds within three years. Rapaport Group is firmly committed to supporting India’s wholesale, retail and consumer sectors through added value products and services that support transparency, efficiency, competition and fair market trading. The new Rapaport price list in rupees will democratise diamond price information and increase consumer confidence as it provides downstream access to standardised information,” Martin Rapaport, chairman of Rapaport Group, said today.

India is also the world’s largest diamond processing market. Last year, the country reportedly imported close to $7.5 billion of diamond roughs.

Demand for diamond jewellery has shown a double-digit rise in line with the firm GDP growth. According to rating agency Crisil, the diamond jewellery market grew 25 per cent in 2010. Further, both India and China accounted for around 20 per cent of the global consumer demand in 2010 against 12 per cent in 2008.

The Rapaport price list is expected to aid the many Indian jewellers who trade diamonds every day. The group added that these jewellers needed price information that is easy to use in their local currency.

The group is planning to launch a Renminbi price list for the Chinese market in the near future.