JOC Staff | Feb 13, 2013 4:23PM EST
India is looking to become an international trading hub for rough diamonds.
Shri Anand Sharma, India’s Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles, has released the report of a task group comprising both government and industry members that was constituted by Sharma under the chairmanship of Anup K. Pujari, India’s Director General of Foreign Trade, to pursue the possibility, keeping in mind the slump in exports of diamonds from India in the last few quarters. The report reviewed issues related to the trade facilitation, taxation, fiscal measures and promotional matters relating to the Indian diamond industry.
Recommendations in the report include setting up a special notified zone for the import and trading of rough diamonds and providing permission to import cut and polished diamonds duty-free by up to 15 percent of the average of the three previous years’ exports.