Malabar Gold & Diamonds to open ‘international hub’ in Dubai, plans to create 300 new jobs

Malabar Gold & Diamonds to open ‘international hub’ in Dubai, plans to create 300 new jobs

Dubai: Malabar Gold & Diamonds will oversee all of its non-India operations from a new base at Dubai’s Gold Souk Extension in Deira. It is set to open within weeks, and will set the stage for the jeweller to launch a retail presence in the UK, Australia, Canada and Bangladesh. The decision to have the ‘Malabar International Hub’ in Dubai was speeded up by the UAE-India CEPA deal that went into effect from May 1, and has been of particular help to the gold and jewellery industry. (The CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) reduces/removes import duties and also smooths out trade and investment flows between the nations.) “With CEPA, it means we can bring in jewellery from India into the UAE without the 5 per cent import duty,” said M.P. Ahamed, Chairman of Malabar Group. “And that immediately works to gold importers’ advantage when they are based here. “With that 5 per cent duty removed in full, we are in a position to use that in adding new international markets as well as improve our retail presence in current markets such as the US.” The intention is to bring in more semi-finished jewellery from its production facilities in India to