A recent report published by Antwerp Facets News Service (AFNS) informs that India's net polished diamond exports which refers to total exports minus imports of polished stones have scaled up by 2.7% in dollar terms while have dipped by 8.8% in rupee terms.

In dollar terms the net value of polished exports amounts to $6.42 billion for the period April to December 2007, in comparison with $6.25 billion during in the same months last year. The statistics were reported by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

This is despite the fact that the total export figure for polished diamonds (before $3.62 billion in imports are subtracted out) jumped some 29.9 percent to $10.04 billion.
Therefore, for April through December 2007, net polished exports from India were actually around $448 million less than net imports of rough diamonds into India during this period, which totaled $6.87 billion.

The performance is an indication that Indian diamantaires are holding onto increasing stockpiles of unsold rough that they cannot profitably cut and export, amid a weakening U.S. market.