Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to India: Diamond trade, investments on agenda

Raw non-industrial diamonds figure significantly in bilateral trade

Collaboration in diamond polishing and processing and improving Israeli investment in India are expected to be on the agenda during the four-day visit by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, starting Sunday, an official said.

India will also push for increased trade and investment with Israel. Bilateral trade was $5.04 billion in 2016-17, rising 2.3 per cent in 2016-17 after four consecutive years of declines. 

The two-way trade involves $3.08 billion of exports and $1.96 billion of imports. Raw non-industrial diamonds figure significantly, contributing more than $1 billion to both imports and exports. 

India is the largest exporter of polished diamonds,