Moscow: ALROSA is waiting for the Special Notified Zone (SNZ) in India to finish forming itself, said the company’s president Andrei Zharkov to RIA Novosti.

“There is a special area in India now, aimed at providing the key to expanding the presence of suppliers of rough in the local market. There are preferential customs conditions there for supply of rough diamonds and for cooperation with local producers,” said Zharkov.

However, rough diamond shipments to India are not there yet. “We are still eyeing the possibilities, formation of this area has not been fully completed, several aspects have not yet worked out,” – said the head of ALROSA.

India has planned to create favorable conditions for diamond trading with ALROSA before the end of 2015. The government of India expects that the diamond producer will be able to sell its products in India directly. Today ALROSA conducts diamond auctions in various countries, in particular in Belgium and the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, India is the world’s largest cutting and polishing center, more than 70% of the world’s polished diamonds are produced here.

In the first half of 2015 ALROSA produced and sold a total of 18 million carats. Among the regular customers of ALROSA are Belgian, Indian, Russian, Chinese and Israeli companies.