India calls on G7 countries to delay ban on Russian rough diamonds - media

MOSCOW. Dec 20 (Interfax) - India has called on the G7 countries to postpone the ban on Russian rough diamonds, India's The Economic Times publication said, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The rules for tracing the provenance of the gems remain unclear, thus rendering it impractical to implement restrictions on indirect imports from Russia for the next three to four months, India said.

India has also expressed its reservations over G7's new traceability-based verification and certification system that might require sharing data about Indian business, one of the sources said. Some of that data could be confidential and business might not be comfortable about sharing it, the source said.

G7 countries in December announced a direct ban on the import of Russian diamonds from January 2024, and, from March diamonds cut and polished from them in other countries. India, home to 90% of the world's diamond cutting and polishing industry, is one of them.

The G7 intends to ban direct and indirect imports of Russian diamonds weighing more than 1 carat from March 2024, and diamonds weighing more than 0.5 carats from September. It plans to introduce a blockchain traceability system in September.

India mainly processes small Russian diamonds, which is why the country expects minimal disruption to trade, a government official previously said, according to The Economic Times. However, industry officials say the proposed ban will impact the diamond supply chain.

India's cutting industry is under pressure due to reduced demand for polished diamonds amid the global economic downturn, which has forced Indian cutters to request a two-month suspension of purchases from diamond miners from October 15 to December 15. The country's polished diamond exports fell 29% to $10 billion in the first seven months of the current financial year, which began in April.