A Free Port of Vladivostok resident, the Indian company M Suresh Vladivostok, dealing in Yakut rough diamonds cutting, works as usual despite the sanctions, Rupesh Gautam, General Director of the company, told TASS news agency.
“Despite the situation that has formed in the global market due to the sanctions against Russia, our company continues to work as usual and on a full scale”, Mr. Gautam stressed.
He noted that the company was planning its expansion in the Russian Far East and in Russia in general. “In 2021, we produced 5,000 carat worth of diamonds, and we expect to double that figure in 2022”, Mr. Gautam added. At the moment, the company has 61 employees, of whom 30% are residents of the Primorsky Krai, and the other 70% of the employees are Indian nationals who specialize in cutting rough diamonds into diamonds, including highly qualified specialists.
However, the company forecasts an approximately 20% decrease of sales due to the US sanctions. “We do not yet observe any changes in the sales market, but because of the sanctions imposed by the US, including the prohibition of imports of non-industrial rough diamonds from Russia to the US we will certainly see a decrease in sales, by about 20% presumably. We, as a manufacturer of diamonds - the cut stones - might not be affected by such risks. However in case of restrictions we’ll be able to re-channel our product supplies to India and China”, Mr. Gautam said, noting that the company is not experiencing any changes and delays in deliveries of raw materials.
M Suresh Vladivostok launched in the capital of Primorsky Krai a manufacture of diamonds with patented technologies and the advanced international practices for cutting and polishing diamonds in January 2020. The company has production and sales centers all over the world, including Australia, the USA, Europe and the Middle East.
The Free Port of Vladivostok regime covers 22 municipalities in five regions of the Russian Far East, over 2 thousand residents, based on agreements with the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation, are implementing projects with the total investments volume of 1.22 trillion rubles, allowing to create jobs for 93.7 thousand people. 262.5 billion rubles have already been invested in the macro-region economy, 30.6 thousand of its residents have been given jobs.