The growing relationship between India and Russia in the diamond industry found mention in the statements released by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and his counterpart Hon’ble President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the end of the former’s recently concluded state visit to Russia.

Improving bilateral trade and cooperation between the two countries was a key theme during two day state visit by the Indian PM as well as the 16th Indo-Russian Summit that took place during that time.

In his address during the visit, Modi said, “President Putin and I are moving creatively in expanding our economic relations. Following our last Summit, India has created a special notified zone to facilitate direct trade between the world’s largest uncut diamond exporter, Russia, and India, which processes 90% of the world’s uncut diamonds.”

On his part, Putin mentioned the growing cooperation between the two countries in the diamond sector. He pointed out that almost half of the Russia’s rough diamond exports go to India, and that Alrosa had increased its number of Indian clients last year.

Putin also welcomed the creation of the Special Notified Zone for trading in rough diamonds at Mumbai, following the deliberations at the World Diamond Conference in Delhi last December.  The Russian statement also said that the two sides would work to promote further development of the SNZ.

In his address to Russian businessmen at the CEO’s Forum, the Indian PM also invited Russian companies to invest in India and said that his government is committed to a fair taxation regime and was making efforts towards improving the ease of doing business. He said Russia can take advantage of ‘Make in India’ initiative which would help the economies of both the countries and added that Russia could play a key role in India’s diamond trade sector.

Pic: Courtesy PIB