Russian diamond mining company ALROSA launched its representative office at Bharat Diamond Bourse, Mumbai, on Thursday, April 19, 2018.

In the grand opening ceremony, the officials Mr. Anoop Mehta – President, Bharat Diamond Bourse, Mr. Mehul Shah, – Vice President, Bharat Diamond Bourse, Mr. Milan Choksi, Convenor, Marketing, GJEPC and Mr. Russel Mehta - Advisor to Chairman, GJEPC, cut the ribbon, inaugurating ALROSA's newly acquired Mumbai office, followed by a media meet held at the launch. Addressing the media were Mr. Evgeny Agureev, Member of the Executive Committee and Director of the United Selling Organization of ALROSA & Mr. Jim Vimadalal, Director of the Indian Representative Office.

ALROSA accounts for about 30% of the global rough diamond supply, which means, at least every fourth stone on the world market has arrived from Russia. Therefore, being the largest diamond miner in the world, ALROSA is keen to deepen its trade relations with the diamond and jewellery market in India and wants to be in sync with the industry to leverage the evolving market opportunities in India.

ALROSA has a long and successful trade collaboration with India. In the new contract period (2018-2020), ALROSA has signed 15 long-term contracts with diamond manufacturing companies in India. ALROSA currently works with more than 140 Indian companies that buy diamonds from the spot market or auctions. As a whole, in CY2017, ALROSA directly supplied diamonds worth almost $700 million to India.

Mr. Jim Vimadalal, Director of Mumbai representative office quoted "While heading the Indian representative office in Mumbai, my key role and responsibilities would involve suggesting new clients and negotiating deals with them, exploring possibilities of cooperation, solving technical issues of the existing clients, as well as discussing opportunities for marketing and joint initiatives with the trade bodies. Our India office will drive the interactions with the industry stakeholders more efficiently. Going forward, the cooperation between ALROSA and the polished diamond manufacturers in India will continue to grow and opening the representative office in India is a logical step in that direction".

"The Indian diamond jewellery market has a huge growth potential including strong opportunities to strengthen the demand for diamond jewellery at the retail end. Due to various policies and economic reform initiatives in the country, the trade narrative has changed for the better. The diamond jewellery market in India is developing and, thus we are opening up opportunities for productive cooperation with major retail players", said Mr. Evgeny Agureev, Member of the Executive Committee and Director of the United Selling Organization of ALROSA.

ALROSA's main sales division, the United Selling Organization, is located in Moscow. Besides India, ALROSA also operates trade offices in the key diamond hubs: Belgium, Israel, Hong Kong, UAE, USA.

Mr. Jim Vimadalal, Director of Mumbai representative office, ALROSA

Evgeny Agureev, Director of the United Selling Organization of ALROSA (i.e. head of ALROSA's sales division)

Mr. Jim Vimadalal holds a degree Bachelor of Commerce from the Bombay University and a postgraduate degree in business management from the Welingkar Institute of Management.

Prior to joining ALROSA, Jim was with the sales and marketing team at Rio Tinto's Indian representative office, and before that, he headed up Swarovski's Western India business operations.

The Director of the representative office will cover ALROSA's activity in India. His key responsibilities will include cooperating with local industry organizations and advising current clients of the company on different technical issues. He will also negotiate with potential clients and monitor the condition of Indian diamond market.

In addition, Jim will deal with issues relating to research of Indian consumption market, as well as issues of preventing synthetics from entering the Indian natural diamonds market.

Mr. Evgeny Agureev, Director of the United Selling Organization of ALROSA (i.e. head of ALROSA's sales division)

Mr. Evgeny Agureev, is a graduate of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Economics, specializing in Accounting, Analysis and Audit, holder of a Master's degree in Financial Management. In 2016, he completed the Executive Development Program of London Business School and Sberbank Corporate University.

Mr.Evgeny Agureev has more than 15 years of experience in financial management in commercial banks. From 2009 to 2017, he held different positions in Sberbank from Head of International Reporting to Vice President, Director of Finance Department. Prior to that, he worked in Russian Standard Bank, MDM Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Austria, Absolut Bank, and Renaissance Credit Bank.

ALROSA is a global leader in rough diamond mining, accounting for about 30% of the world diamond production. Gem-quality diamonds, the source material for polished diamonds, form the bulk of the Company's output. Russian stones are highly valued on the market due to their superb quality and guaranteed and non-conflict origin.

ALROSA's key business areas include exploration, mining and sales of rough diamonds. The Company also operates its polishing branch, DIAMONDS ALROSA, being the only diamond miner with an in-house cutting division.

ALROSA conducts mining operations in several locations across Russia – in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Arkhangelsk Region. To boost its resource base, ALROSA carries out geological exploration in Russia and Angola. The company's trading and representative offices are located in the key global diamond trading hubs in Belgium, Israel, China, the UAE, the USA and India.

For More Information log on to- http://eng.alrosa.ru/