India-based KGK Group has launched a diamond-cutting facility in Vladivostok in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

  The company is spending about $48 million (RUB 2.8 billion) on the factory, where it has the capacity to manufacture 150,000 carats of diamonds per year, it said last week. The operation will employ 400 people. 

  KGK has also entered a long-term contract with Alrosa for rough supply, and signed cooperation agreements with the governor of Vladivostok and VTB Bank, the trading company said. It already has manufacturing operations in India, South Africa, Russia, Botswana and Namibia. 

  “We see enormous potential in [the] Far East region of Russia,” said Sanjay Kothari, vice chairman of KGK, adding that the company intended to make the area a hub for the diamond and jewelry sector. “We are already in discussion with our clients from Asia Pacific who have shown interest in this region.”