Cut and polished diamonds that are imported for the purposes of grading or certification in India’s three diamond labs and re-export out of India will not be subject to customs duty, following a decision published by India’s Central Board of Excise and Customs this week.
The three labs are Gemological Institute of America (Mumbai), India Diamond Institute (Surat) and the International Institute of Diamond Grading and Research India (Surat).
The notification has specified the various procedures to be followed by these labs for each parcel of diamonds imported if they wish to avail themselves of the exemption, including allotting of a “unique control number” to each batch, detailed descriptions of the imported diamonds including dimensions, weight, colour, caratage, approximate value, etc, submission of a quarterly statement covering all import and re-export parcels to be prepared before the 25th of the month following the end of the quarter, etc.
To qualify for a customs duty exemption, polished diamonds shipped from abroad will have to be certified and re-exported from India within three months. The exemption from customs duties on diamonds is expected to make these labs competitive locations for certifying polished diamonds manufactured or traded in other countries.
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