India’s gemstone industry will hope to add some sparkle to ties between New Delhi and Moscow this week by persuading Russia to massively increase its exports of diamonds direct to the global hub of cutting and polishing.
Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to the Indian capital from Wednesday is expected to see landmark deals clinched on natural gas and nuclear power.
But the Russian president is also due to attend the inaugural World Diamond Conference, starting Thursday, which aims to raise Mumbai’s status as a major diamond trading centre.
Russia is the world’s top producer of rough diamonds and the majority of them pass through India, where a cheap workforce cuts and polishes the gemstones before most are exported again for use in jewellery.