India to resume diamond imports from Zimbabwe

India's diamond industry is preparing to resume imports of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe with the Kimberley Process countries ratifying a modified version of the Jerusalem Agreement and clearing the way for that African nation to begin selling its stones.

Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is the process designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds. The certification scheme aims at preventing "blood diamonds" from entering the mainstream rough diamond market. Consumers are assured that by purchasing certified diamonds they were not financing war and human rights abuses.

In October 2010, the Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing India Ltd (SRDSIL), a consortium of 1,500 diamantaires in the world's biggest diamond cutting and polishing hub in Surat, India, entered into a $1.2 billion deal with the Zimbabwe government for a direct supply of rough diamonds in exchange for Indian diamond workers training 1,000 young Zimbabweans as diamond cutters and polishers.

But the agreement stalled when the KPCS failed to reach an agreement on Zimbabwe and extended the ban on the sale and export of diamonds from that country.

By the time the ban was extended, a $160 million shipment of rough diamonds was already en route from Zimbabwe to four diamond companies in India. The stones had been shipped through the United Arab Emirates, but being a KPCS member the UAE impounded the Zimbabwe diamonds and did not clear them.

Since then the consignment has been held in Dubai's free trade zone. Now the shipment can now be transported to India.

India's Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has welcomed the KP decision. GJEPC chairman, Rajiv Jain, said that it was good that the issue of Zimbabwe had been resolved, and that importing rough diamonds from Zimbabwe would "provide a boost to processors in India."