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New Delhi, Oct 12: India has emerged as the fastest growing diamond market ahead of China, US, UK and Japan, recording retail sales growth of 19% during 2004.
China, at second position among the major nations, recorded retail sales growth of 11% amounting to $2.6 billion. Sales in the US, which accounts for over 51% of world diamond jewellery, increased by 8% during 2004. The global diamond market is estimated at around $60 billion.
As far as India is concerned, domestic demand for diamond jewellery went up to Rs 6,500 crore in 2004 from Rs 5,600 crore the previous year.
According to Icra, the positive sales growth of 3% in case of Japan was a reflection of economic performance in recent years. Since mid-1990s, the Japanese economy has been in recession, and the share of diamond jewellery purchased by Japanese customers halved, having fallen from one-third of the world total.
As far as exports are concerned, India is the world’s leading diamond cutting and polishing centre. Indian exports of cut and polished diamonds aggregated $11.18 billion in 2004-05, representing an increase of over 26.6% over the previous financial year.
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