De Beers eyes double digit growth in India this year

Leading global diamond company De Beers expects all its brands in the country to post double digit growth in 2017 due to improving economic environment.

"The diamond jewellery consumption is coming back in India, which was affected by jewellers strike in the first half and demonetisation in the last quarter of 2016.

"With overall economy improving and our marketing initiatives we are very optimistic about 2017. We are expecting a double digit growth in all our brands," De Beers' Forevermark CEO Stephen Lussier told PTI here.

India being the biggest exporter of polished diamonds, presents huge opportunity for the industry among the emerging markets, Lussier added.
 

Asked if he sees the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST) as a big hurdle for the industry, he said nothing could be as big a hurdle as demonetisation was during November last year.

"I don't think that the impending GST will be a very big problem as was demonetisation at the end of last year," he said.

Further, Lussier said, with the global diamond industry growing marginally over the previous year to USD 80 billion, 2017 is likely to witness slight increase in demand.

"We are expecting growth on the lower side of single digit this year mainly driven by continued rise in sales in the US and more encouraging demand trends in China and India," he added.

In 2016, the overall global diamond consumption stood at USD 79 billion, according to data by De Beers.

Consumer demand in the US climbed more than 4 per cent to over USD 40 billion for the first time mainly aided by job creation, wage growth and a strong stock market, Lussier said.

"The demand returned in the US, which accounts for 50 per cent of the global diamond demand, due to the overall improvement in the economy.

"The country also witnessed a growth in single women indulging in self purchase. Mostly they went for non-bridal, discretionary jewellery category indicating that single women in the US are economically sound and prospering," he added.

China saw flat demand growth in 2016 at USD 10 billion due to slowdown in economy.

In 2017, the demand has already shown growth following increase in sales around Chinese New Year and going forward it is likely to grow faster in local currency terms, he added.