Samit Bhatta appointed General Manager India & Middle East

Earlier, Mr. Bhatta served as Sales & Marketing Manager of DTC India and General Manager Sales & Marketing at Damas, the leading jewelry retailer in the Middle East. The appointment underlines the retailer focus of the new diamondlab.

"IDL is going to be retail oriented. Samit's experience both in downstream alliances as initiated by the DTC as with a leading retailers such as Damas will be of great significance in achieving that goal." said Peter Meeus, CEO of IDL.

"Samit's comprehensive understanding of the diamond consumer added with his retail management skills will be an asset for his role at International Diamond Laboratories. My best wishes are with him." said Mr. Tawhid Abdullah, Managing Director of Damas.

"Samit's understanding of the Indian consumer, retail and exceptional trade relations especially in diamonds will be of great help to the Indian industry and IDL. He comes back to India at a crucial juncture when the diamond industry is growing at 26% and is ready for take the leap with the newer technological advances in the business". Said Prasad Kapre, Business Director of DTC India.

Samit will lead IDL's foray into the world's third and fourth largest diamond markets (India and Middle East) with strong economic growth and a rapidly developing middle class.

Earlier, IDL announced the appointment of An Smet as Chief Operating & Technology Officer and an experienced team to run its lab operations composed of Michel Schuermans as Chief Gemologist Officer, Pierre Grabowski as Chief Logistics Officer and Dr. Filip De Weerdt as Head of Research. IDL will start issuing certificates in September through its offices in Antwerp, Dubai and Mumbai.