Sachin Jain, Managing Director of De Beers-owned diamond jewellery brand Forevermark, is hopeful that retail diamond sales in India “will return to 70%-80% of the pre-COVID business level by October-November”, according to Rough & Polished.
Jain said that the retail diamond demand “is gradually growing in tier I cities”, with “revival of demand was first witnessed in tier II cities of the country”.
Jain added: “After two months of washout due to lockdown, pent up demand lasted for a few weeks. Then top cities lagged but business in tier II cities was 50%-70% of the pre-COVID level by July. In the last fortnight, we see demand from top cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore is coming back strongly from 30%-50% in the previous months”. He said that revival of demand was also seen in China and that prices remain stable “as supply also remains constrained in mining, manufacturing sites due to government regulations of social distancing”.