India’s polished diamond exports hit 20-year low

India’s exports of cut and polished diamonds plummeted to their lowest level in nearly two decades in the 2024-25 fiscal year, which ended in March, on sluggish demand from the US and China, a leading trade body said yesterday.

India is the world’s largest cutting and polishing hub, handling nine out of every 10 diamonds processed globally. But it is sensitive to economic uncertainty – particularly in the US, its biggest market.

Cut and polished diamond exports, which usually account for nearly half of overall gem and jewellery shipments, fell 16.8pc to $13.3 billion year-on-year, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said in a statement.

The slump dragged down overall gem and jewellery exports by 11.7pc to $28.5bn – a four-year low – from $32.28bn the previous year.

The lower demand for polished diamonds also prompted Indian processors to reduce imports of rough diamonds by 24.3pc to $10.8bn, the trade body said.

Gems and jewellery exports rose by 1pc year-on-year in March, however, to $2.56bn, the GJEPC said, as exporters ramped up shipments ahead of announced US tariffs.

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