As the Mines to Market international diamond industry conference opened this week in Mumbai, India's diamond traders made it clear that they were expecting a significant increase in the country's diamond exports.

At a conference panel on diamond manufacturing, speakers from India's gemstone and diamond trade said that gemstones and jewelry currently comprised 13% of India's total merchandise exports. However, India has already seen its total jewelry exports jump 61.9% from April to August 2010, reaching a total value of $15.22 billion, compared to $6.4 billion worth of jewelry exported in the same period in 2009.

Mineweb.com reports that Indian diamond processors and jewelry manufacturers believe that they will see still improved performance in exports, with sales rising 30%-35%.

The Icra credit rating company reported recently that India saw per-carat prices rise to $495.1 in June 2010, compared to $270.2 in the corresponding month of 2009.

Anil D Shah of Surat's Venus Jewel company said that India had a diamond tradition dating back to the Koh-i-Noor and noted that today, India had the "largest diversified diamond cutters in the world." According to Shah, 11 out of 12 diamonds in the world are processed in India.