Mumbai: There is a sense of disbelief among the diamond czars of India as news is slowly percolating about the resignation of Thomas C Yonelunas, CEO of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Laboratory following review of policies and practices at the GIA lab. Four GIA staffers have been sacked as well. Thomas M Moses, […]

Mumbai: The certificate scandal at the Gemological Institute is snowballing into major crisis with GIA announcing that the names of diamond dealers who may have violated GIA’s Code of Ethics have been turned over to law enforcement officials. GIA has also made it clear to them that it will no longer accept diamonds from them […]

Mumbai: The Indian diamond industry, which has been perpetually starved of rough stones for cutting and polishing, was eagerly awaiting this announcement. On Thursday, Rio Tinto Diamonds, owner of the Argyle diamond mine in Australia, said that it would invest $760 million for expansion of the mine. It also plans to establish a centralised diamond […]

Indian Community Bags Five Seats On The Six-Member Board Of Antwerp Trading Body Ketan Tanna | TNN Mumbai: Diamond traders of Indian origin have formalised their domination over the industry in the world’s diamond capital. Five dimantaires of Indian origin have been elected to the six member board of the prestigious Antwerp-based Hoga Raa Voor […]

Mumbai:News about financial trouble at New York-based M Fabrikant & Sons, the largest US importer of diamonds from India, has the country’s diamond industry worried. According to a report in Israel-based newspaper Globe, Fabrikant owes $400 million to creditors, of which $200 million is owed to US banks, and $200 million to suppliers. Fabrikant has […]

Certifigate scandal has landed diamond industry in a dilemma. Ketan Tanna offers tips on how to escape unscrupulous traders The scandal over diamond certification by the Gemological Institute of America is snowballing into a major controversy with industry watchers calling it certifigate. Indeed, are diamond gradation certificates just an illusion? The resignation of Thomas C Yonelunas, CEO […]

Wary Industry Expects Christmas Demand To Boost Revival Hopes Ketan Tanna | TNN Mumbai: There are not many cheerful faces in Mumbai’s Panchratna building or the adjacent Jewel building in Opera House which house offices of the ‘who’s who’ of the Indian diamond industry. Diamond exports have declined over two consecutive quarters, due to slack […]

A tale of how diamonds fund brutal African wars is troubling the Indian traders, reports Ketan Tanna Women may appear to like tiny things but you may never hear any one of them say, “Honey, don’t you think this diamond is way too big?” The influence of diamonds over women is unshakeable. But now, the […]

Local beneficiation was the hot topic at the International Diamond Conference – Mines To Market 2005 – held May 24 and 25 in Mumbai, India, where Botswana President Festus Mogae addressed the issue in his keynote speech commenting, “We have no intention, for now, of making the export of rough diamonds illegal or uneconomical by […]

Diamond players addressed supply chain, marketing, and sales issues at the Mines to Market International Conference in Mumbai, India. With Rapaport Groups’s CEO, Martin Rapaport, moderating the panel of speakers, it was serious stock-taking time among lighter moments. Recounting a joke, Rapaport’s message was “don’t sit on inventories” to which Mehul Choksi, chairman and CEO […]

Reporter Ketan Tanna caught up with De Beers’ managing director designate, Gareth Penny, at the Mines to Market Conference in Mumbai, India. With regards to the Belgian Polish Diamond Dealers Association (BVGD) decision to approach the European Commission on ending Supplier of Choice, and any partnership between De Beers and ALROSA, Penny said, “Anybody is […]

Kiran Exports, Bhansali & Co., Mine Stone, and Tara Jewels -all in Mumbai, India– are among 11 added to the new sightholder list release by the Diamond Trading Company Barring Tara Jewels, the other three were accepted after two application attempts. However, late in the day on June 9, all four were happy that they […]

The furor over the benzene poisoning of four diamond cutters in India’s diamond city Surat, has led to the unearthing of the startling fact that only 431 of over 10,000 diamond units in the state of Gujarat have been registered under the Factories Act that specifies the working conditions of factory workers among other things. […]

The State Bank of India (SBI,) a state-owned Fortune 500 bank, has won a money laundering case involving the bank and some of India’s diamond dealers, in a court of appeal in Antwerp. Belgian authorities had filed a case in 1997 alleging that SBI employees were indulging in and encouraging money laundering by giving credit […]

Dilip Mehta, CEO of Rosy Blue, spoke with Rapaport News in Mumbai, India, for the “Mines To Market” conference. Excerpts from the interview follow: On rising rough prices that the polished market does not keep pace with. It is a challenge. The market has become saturated. However, South East Asia, the Far and Middle East are […]