HRD Antwerp has opened its renovated and expanded laboratory in Mumbai, allowing the facility to grade up to 2,000 diamonds per day.<\/p>\n
The inauguration of the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) marks an important step in the company\u2019s growth and presence in India, HRD Antwerp said last week. The Indian market is one of the world\u2019s leading hubs for trading and cutting natural diamonds. The expansion will also increase HRD Antwerp\u2019s research capacity in Mumbai by 30%.<\/p>\n
As part of the opening ceremony, Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever toured the office, where HRD Antwerp\u2019s Indian experts demonstrated the diamond-grading process. The expansion will facilitate a 30% increase in the number of stones the lab can grade as well as the recruitment of 40 new full-time employees.<\/p>\n
The Indian branch currently generates 59% of HRD Antwerp\u2019s total group revenue and is forecast to grow 15% this year, compared with projected growth of 13% for the group overall. Jewelry grading is a key driver, accounting for as much as 47% of the company\u2019s total revenue increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the authority in grading reports for natural diamonds and diamond jewelry, and in research into natural diamonds, we are already firmly established in India today,\u201d said HRD Antwerp CEO Paul De Wachter. \u201cIndia remains the world\u2019s most important center for diamond cutting. For a diamond laboratory such as HRD Antwerp, which provides cut natural diamonds with an independent and objective grading report, it is therefore essential to keep investing in this market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Image: Cutting the ribbon to inaugurate the new, renovated lab. (HRD Antwerp)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HRD Antwerp has opened its renovated and expanded laboratory in Mumbai, allowing the facility to grade up to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,2405,2406],"class_list":["post-36544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-antwerp","tag-antwerp","tag-hrd-antwerp","tag-suzanne-watkin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117227882188688573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}