Diamond doyen Arun Mehta passes away!

Diamond Industry & trade tycoon Arunkumar Ramniklal Mehta born in January 1940 passed away on June 14 in Mumbai. A man of inspiration lived up his life as ‘a simple living & sparkling thinking’ throughout the life! One of the mammoth personalities Arunbhai earned much of respect & honour than what he earned from his business in the life!

Throughout his life he inspired numbers of new entrant diamantaires by facilitating adequate guidance! In general he insists upon to go for needed diamond education, manage proper capital upon commencement and to develop a leadership quality to lead a team! These were the brilliant guidance for new entrant! He was convinced that, established diamantaire must provide a space for new generation that may add more sparkle in the business India!

GST Trade facilitation Measures announced

Recommendations of GST council

Related to Law & Procedure!

The 40th GST Council met under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman through video conferencing. The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance& States/ UTs.

The GST Council has made the following recommendations on Law & Procedures changes. Measures for Trade facilitation are,

1: Reduction in Late Fee for past Returns:

As a measure to clean up pendency in return filing, late fee for non-furnishing FORM GSTR-3B for the tax period from July, 2017 to January, 2020 has been reduced / waived as under: -

Alrosa January-May sales reach to $959.9mn

In May 2020, Alrosa Group sold $40.1 million worth of rough and polished diamonds. The revenue from rough diamond sales sequentially grew to $36.2 million and from polished diamond sales −to $3.9 million.

Alrosa’s total rough and polished diamond sales in January–May 2020 amounted to $959.9 million, including rough diamonds sales of $930.6 million, polished diamonds of $29.3 million.

Sodiam lowers cost hikes tax payment!

Sodiam, the National Diamond Trading Company of Angola recorded a net profit of US$27,1 million in 2019, despite the worldwide decline registered in the diamond market. Sodiam underlines that last year the company saw its operating costs drop by 17%, maintaining the trend started in 2018, while its tax contribution increased by around 21%.

The company's management considers that the financial year was positive, because it ensured good results for Sodiam and for the State shareholder, although it continues to manage the effects of a difficult business environment.

DGCX listed in ESMA transparency

The European Securities and Markets Authority has added DGCX to list of

Third-country trading venues that meet post-trade transparency requirements

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) announced that it has received a positive assessment from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, and is now listed as a third-country trading venue (TCTV) that meets the post-trade transparency requirements under MiFID II and MiFIR.

Granada had mined over 164K Oz of silver!

Granada Gold Mine updates its 2020 plans and activities aimed at exploration and bulk sampling with the related highlights. Diamond drilling aims to focus on the high-grade Vein No 1 structure.  To date, the structure has been traced for 500 metres on surface.

Historic underground production between 1930 and 1935, from 2 shafts had an average grade of 9.7 grams /tonne gold and 1.5 grams/tonne silver from 164,816 tonnes of mineralized material (51,476 ounces gold in 181,744 tons at 0.28 oz/ton) primarily from Vein No.2 underground.

World's first! A UFO-shaped legal tender!

According to the Royal Canadian Mint, after the technological breakthroughs in rocketry during WWII, the eyes of many were pointed to the sky in search of an unidentified flying object (UFO). There were so many sightings that the US Air Force launched a series of formal investigations beginning with Project Sign in 1948 and culminating in the largest ever government investigation of UFOs, Project Blue Book, which ended in 1969.

Gold relevance increased at Central Banks!

Central banks remain positive on gold amid COVID-19 risks said Shaokai Fan, Director, Central Banks and Public Policy, WGC. Our central banks team, in partnership with Yougov, recently concluded the 2020 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey.

This year’s survey, which saw a jump in the number of responses, shows strong signs of an increase in gold’s relevance for central bank reserve management: 20% of respondents say that they plan to add gold to their reserves this year, up from 8% in the 2019 survey. The results also indicate shifts in investment attitudes towards gold as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the global financial and economic outlook.

Realignment of Foreign Trade supply chains!

Inked on, Global Supply Chains & Foreign Trade in a Post-COVID Paradigm by Arindam Som, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) believes that the COVID-19 pandemic will stoke a global policy narrative around the realignment of cross-border supply chains particularly for the pivotal role played by the Chinese economy. However, this realignment will take time to gain momentum.

The ability of other emerging markets – including India – to benefit from a shift away from China will be driven by two factors – first, the ability of these markets to provide cost-competitive alternatives and second and the evolution of the trade policy in various importing nations.

RJC to host UN session on SDG Impact

Register for the session on June 15, 2020 of UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit using RJC's code: VLS2020_RJC at: 13:00 - 14:00 (EDT)

RJC to host a deep dive session at the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit, SDG Impact through the Jewellery Industry on June 15, 2020 at, 13:00 - 14:00 (EDT). Register for the session and UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit using RJC's complimentary code: VLS2020_RJC.