(IDEX Online) - Diamond exports from India are gradually resuming, as officials in Mumbai introduce a lottery to allow 100 packages a day to leave the country.
Traders chosen at random are allowed to despatch bulk orders, typically to buyers in USA or Dubai waiting for pre-COVID-19 orders to be fulfilled.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which governs the Mumbai area, introduced the lottery last week, according to the Hindustan Times Newspaper.
But it favors larger merchants, who are more likely to store larger quantities of diamonds, according to the Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association.
India has been sitting on a vast inventory of polished stones, valued at up to $5bn, since lockdown came into force on 25 March.
Jewelry businesses in the SEEPZ special economic zone and the Bharat Diamond Bourse, both in Mumbai, have been allowed a very limited return to work, with conditions, but production in the Surat hub and elsewhere has not yet resumed.