De Beers to expand India presence; eyes 3 pc growth globally

Diamond miner De Beers Group is planning to expand its retail presence by increasing the network of its jeweller partners to 200 in 27 cities of the country this year and also anticipating a global growth of 3 per cent, a top company official said today.
"For us India is a high-growth market and our focus is to further increase our retail presence. This year we are looking to increase our presence to close to 200 jewellers in 27 cities," De Beers Group Chief Executive Philippe Mellier told reporters here.
At present, De Beers has retail presence with 162 jeweller partners in 24 Indian cities.

De Beers has also set up a diamond grading and marking business by launching Forevermark diamond grading and inscription facility - International Institute of Diamond Grading and Research (IIDGR) at Surat.
This is the second only facility of the diamond major outside Antwerp, Belgium.
"We thought of establishing the facility in Surat as half of our diamonds are polished in India and this facility will cater to our Indian retailer partners. It will also reduce the grading and certification time from six weeks to only six days," Mellier added.

The company has invested USD 10 million (about Rs 60 crore) for setting up the facility, which will process diamonds worth USD 500 million annually.

In terms of volume, the company is expecting to process 1,00,000 diamonds in 2015, and double that every year to reach 5,00,000 in next two-three years, he said.
"This investment will be an important resource for the Indian diamond trade and will cement Surat's position at the heart of our industry. While the facility will initially focus on Forevermark grading, we will also look into the potential to widen the service in the future," he pointed out.