Media reports last week claimed that at least nine Indian diamond traders had recently defaulted on payments to diamond manufacturers and rough diamond dealers because they had lost large amounts of money betting on Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches.
According to The Times of India article, the Surat Diamond Association (SDA) confirmed the involvement of diamond traders in cricket betting, stating that payment defaults occurred every year around the time that the IPL ended.
It added that for the month of June 2013, the default total amounted to around 5 billion rupees (AU$88.4 m) with 95 per cent found to be related to cricket gambling. The SDA reportedly expected that the total would be even higher this year – about 6 billion rupees (AU$106.2 m) by the end of June 2014.
“The payment terms in the diamond industry are fixed between 30 and 90 days,” former SDA president CP Vanani explained to The Times of India. “For the big purchases, sometimes the credit limit increases to 120 days. The traders utilise the credit period to divert their money to other fields to earn profits.”
“IPL betting has become a pastime for some in the diamond industry,” SDA president Dinesh Navadia was quoted as saying. “The money the traders bet on teams and players is meant to make payments to diamond manufacturers and rough diamond dealers.”
* Image: Diamond and gold cricket ball courtsey of Fior Drissage: Company director Alston Koch, made-to-scale cricket ball with 2,704 diamonds and 18 carat gold stitch.