India may not be majorly impacted by G7 ban on Russian diamond imports

India may not be majorly impacted by G7’s decision to impose direct import restrictions on Russian-origin diamonds from January, and on diamonds processed by third countries from March as most of the country's major concerns have been addressed, a senior government official said on Friday.

“India’s thinking was that there should be control on the rough diamonds, which are coming from Russia but as far as diamonds are processed in India, there should be no further checks on that. They (G7) have agreed to that. In that respect, perhaps, it is a respite to our diamond industry,” the official cited above said.

“If rough Russian diamonds that will be coming from Antwerp and other areas, they will be used in our diamond processing. We should be able to see that without disturbing the sanctions on Russian diamonds we should be able to export our processed diamonds,” the official said.

India-EU WTO dispute

India has appealed against a ruling of the World Trade Organization's (WTO’s) trade dispute settlement panel in a case filed by the European Union (EU) against New Delhi’s import duties on nine information and technology products.

India’s move came after both sides were not able to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution. “India and the EU have negotiated to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution for the past seven months, but the EU has now filed for adoption of panel report on December 7 and therefore, India has appealed against it on December 8 in the WTO,” Peeyush Kumar, additional secretary in the commerce ministry, told reporters.

As part of the proposed mutually agreed solution, the EU has sought Customs duty concessions on certain goods, which was not acceptable to India as it violates WTO rules.

These concessions can only be given in a free trade agreement, Kumar said.

In September, India and the EU had asked WTO’s dispute settlement body not to adopt a ruling against New Delhi’s import duties on certain ICT products like mobile phones and components, base stations, integrated circuits and optical instruments till December 18, as both sides were engaged in bilateral talks to resolve the matter.

With inputs from PTI