US-based Rapaport Group plans to strengthen its presence in the huge Indian diamond market by opening its office in Surat.
NEW DELHI: US-based Rapaport Group - the primary source of diamond prices and market information - plans to strengthen its presence in the huge Indian diamond market by opening its office in Surat, known as the global diamond processing hub.
"Our objective is to do business in India. Surat is a huge cutting centre and can absorb all kinds of diamond," group chairman martin rapaport said.
He said that his group planned to create a cash market for diamonds in Surat, enabling sellers and buyers to obtain fair pricing through tenders.
It plans tendering a wide variety of products including rough diamonds and inexpensive polished diamonds with certification from Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Rapaport said it was trading which was the future of diamonds and not manufacturing.
The group already owns three offices in Mumbai and one in Jaipur. It has made operational 5,000 square feet out of 10,000 square feet office in Surat.
"Our online trading network which is the worlds largest diamond trading network with daily listings of over 5,00,000 diamonds valued at over four billion US dollar will provide extensive trading services to clients including Rapaport Price List besides strategic, technical and logistic support for firms wishing to buy or sell diamonds," he said.
The group currently operates trading offices in many cities of the world including New York, Mumbai, Dubai, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Eight out of 10 diamonds in the world are polished in Surat which has a 72 per cent world share and 80 per cent of the Indian market in diamond processing.
He said there were 3,900 members trading with the group which looked at substantial membership from India. "We would enable suppliers from various parts of the world to sell diamonds in India," Rapaport said.
On the current global economic situation, Rapaport who is also a member of the World Diamond Council said, "We have entered an era of opportunity. He added that diamond industry worldwide was undergoing phenomenal changes and there was a need to create a cash market for diamonds".
He said diamond had become a downstream industry where manufacturers had been forced to become marketers. "That is not how it should be. The new market forces have given them an opportunity to break free of the producers who control the entire business and are forcing the manufactures into marketing," he added.
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