Making diamonds for all possible

For hundreds of years, diamonds have been believed to bring good luck, health, and wealth, and protect their wearer from the evil eye.

Despite being a multi-billion dollar business worldwide, the precious stone is mostly looked at as a token of love and beauty via jewellery.

In Bangladesh, for a long time, only the rich people could afford to buy diamond jewellery, which women would only wear at weddings, similar social events or gatherings and sometimes important business meetings.

However, with economic developments and per capital income rising in the 21st century, the people of the middle-income class can now afford to spend money on such luxury items.

Most people buy such jewellery to give to their loved ones on special occasions like weddings or engagements.

One can try to imagine how did this happen. In such a least developed country, how did authentic pieces of diamond ornaments become affordable to all the jewellery-loving people from the middle and upper class?

Seventeen years ago, a man working in Bangladesh’s jewellery industry thought about it first based on the high prospects of diamonds. He wanted to do something because its demand was rising as the upper and middle-income people were starting to enjoy luxury products.

At that time, the industry here was not getting much attention and jewellery lovers were unable to get their hands on authentic and affordable diamonds when neighbouring India had already captured 70 per cent of the global diamond industry.

Sensing this industry’s high potential, this man decided to enter the diamond jewellery business, thinking not only about earning money, but rather making a difference in the jewellery market, contributing to people’s life and adding value to the country’s GDP.

Dilip Kumar Agarwala is that man — a pioneer in the jewellery industry who by being a visionary entrepreneur has successfully popularised diamonds to both sellers and customers in the country’s market, where common people think buying diamond jewellery is not possible for them while random incidents of fake stones come to light from time to time.

He launched the first branch of “Diamond World” in 2005 in Dhaka’s Gulshan with a vision of “Diamond for All” and a tagline “The art of beauty.”

After 17 years, Diamond World has created a massive customer base at its 30 outlets across the country. Nine of the branches are in Dhaka.

The company has generated employment of around 400 people directly and has around 20,000 jewellers from across the country connected to its ecosystem.

Dilip is now the managing director of Diamond World Ltd, Diamond World (BD) Ltd, and Taradavi Shipping and Sea Trade Ltd.

He was committed to establishing confidence among customers, especially the middle-income ones, that affording and owning real pieces of diamond jewellery is possible.

His vision and diligence were aimed at bringing diamonds down to affordable prices for common people, where quality, selection, value, trust, innovative design and service has been a trademark of excellence.

As a result, under the prudent leadership of owner Dilip, Diamond World has become one of the top diamond jewellery suppliers in the country by offering the largest collection of jewellery and witnessing significant growth year on year.

According to the company, the current average range of the middle-income purchase is Tk 50,000 to Tk 1,00,000 for diamond ornaments.

Diamond World’s artisans are some of the best in the world and its entire team of professionals strives to give the best possible service to the customers.

The company, which was also the first to import gold through the legal channel, has also established its own diamond assembling factory in Dhaka, which is the first of its kind in the country.

Diamond World has also received the ISO certificate as the first jewellery company in Bangladesh, apart from being recognized and awarded by different countries for maintaining international standards.

The company plans to set up branches in every district of the country and go for formal diamond export in the next few years as the demand is growing in both local and global markets.

All these have been possible due to Dilip’s long family business experience and talent in accounting.

Dilip’s emergence

Dilip was born in an affluent business family in Chuadanga on December 14, 1968. His grandfather Dwarka Das Agarwala had founded the district’s first and only Cinema hall “Roopchhaya.”

Dilip’s father Omiyo Kumar Agarwala studied at Germany’s Koln University. After completing his higher education, Omiyo returned to Bangladesh and entered the family businesses, which included contractorship, transport, export-import, agro-business and then garments.

Being the eldest son and grandson, it was just a matter of time for Dilip to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

During his teenage years, Dilip developed a prodigious skill in accounting. His grandfather depended on his assistance when he faced any dilemma of calculation.

He completed his SSC from the Govt VJ School and HSC from the Chuadanga Government College. Later, he graduated from the National University (NU).

While his two brothers went abroad for higher studies, Dilip decided to stay back home and do something here. He entered student politics in 1985, following the spirit of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s ideology.

He later served as organising secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Chuadanga Government College unit. Currently, the business magnet is also a member of the central sub-committee on industry and commerce of the ruling Awami League.

After graduating from NU, he started working as a contractor and trader in Chuadanga. He also got involved in the filmmaking business with the banner of Panna Movies.

For his responsible and devoted leadership, Dilip was elected as a director of the Chuadanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry years later.

Before setting foot in the diamond jewellery territory, he had entered the gold jewellery business with Panna Jewellery in 2004 after moving to Dhaka from Chuadanga. Then, over the years, he got involved with agro and transport businesses.

Running his gold jewellery business, Dilip found out that people fantasised about owning diamonds but they were unable to buy them due to unavailability and a lack of reliable companies in the market.

After doing extensive market research and gathering the required investment, he decided to start a diamond business with the goal to ensure international standard, quality and design. And that’s how today’s “Diamond World” came into existence.

Within a year, the name became a brand and the most trusted diamond shop as its popularity spread around the country. Eventually, Dilip opened outlets in Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Sylhet, Cumilla, Mymensingh and Bogura.

Dilip’s vision is not to make money but to create opportunity and service for the people and to bring glory to the country as well as to create a global market with mutual understanding.

The factory

A few years ago, jewellers in Bangladesh had to import all finished pieces of diamond jewellery from the international market and supply them locally.

However, Diamond World broke that chain and became the first local company to build a factory in Bangladesh to assemble jewellery with gold, diamond and platinum and supply them to the local market.

As a result, the dependency on imports has significantly dropped while a window of opportunity for Bangladeshi traders to export diamonds has opened.

Currently, Diamond World imports raw diamonds from the global market, especially from Russia and South Africa via India, and then cuts, polishes and assembles them in its factory. This creates the chance to develop the local industry and skills of local lapidaries and generate employment.

With the factory up and running, Diamond World is highly hopeful of meeting the local demand on its own and supplying to customers around the world. Dilip has always been intrigued by the demand for finished diamonds and diamond jewellery in Bangladesh. He was always looking for ways to retain the country’s valuable foreign currency and to promote and take the jewellery industry to a stronger position.

Diamond World is also planning to develop an international standard training institute to create skilled manpower.

Using modern technology and skilled labour, this industry will be able to produce quality products, keep pace with the world, retain foreign exchange by reducing import dependence, and boost the forex by exporting finished jewellery.

In this golden age of a free market economy, Dilip wants to accomplish a strong position in the competitive global market, find the problems of this industry through bargaining with the government and achieve the desired results by accelerating the possibilities — all the while contributing to the GDP like businesses do in India and the UAE.

From local to international

The name and fame of Diamond World have already reached the global market as the company has won the hearts of consumers in many countries.

Apart from earning the ISO certificate for maintaining the international standard, Diamond World has managed to gain recognition from different countries, including India, China, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the UAE, for ensuring quality.

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding in collaboration with JSC NORTHWEST ILC of Russia and many companies based in the UAE.

The company is now exporting finished stones after cutting and polishing rough diamonds and is very hopeful to officially enter the diamond export market within the next few years.

According to Dilip, as a Bangladeshi, he wants to contribute to achieving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Vision 2041 by 2032.

“And in the next 10 years, as the MD of Diamond World, I want to have one showroom in every district of the country and we want to make a significant contribution to the national economy by exporting jewellery,” says Dilip.

For the entrepreneurs, he said, “I was an ordinary businessman back in 2005. Today, I am where I am only for four reasons: first, I dreamed of becoming a big businessman; second, if I make a commitment, I keep it; third, hard work; and fourth, management.

“If you follow and maintain these, you will be successful… today or tomorrow.”

Achievements of Dilip

Dilip Kumar Agarwala is happily married to Sabita Agarwala, director of Diamond World Limited. The couple has a son, Yash Agarwala, and a daughter, Achal Agarwala.

Dilip has been successfully leading the Bangladesh Jewellers Association (BAJUS) for the last seven years as its general secretary.

Under his bold leadership, jewellery traders got a gold policy from the government in 2018.

Currently, he also serves as a director of FBCCI. He also served the trade organisation as a vice-president in a previous term.

For his contribution to the economy, the government has named Dilip as a Commercially Important Person (CIP) four times so far.

He has been named by the National Board of Revenue as the best taxpayer in the Chuadanga district for eight years in a row.

Dilip was awarded the International Mother Teresa Medal in 2017 for his outstanding contribution to social service.

He is the president of the Bangladesh Diamond Merchants Association and the general secretary of the Bangladesh Gemstone Merchants Association.

Dilip also serves as a director of Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra Ltd, Bengal Commercial Bank Limited, CIS-BCCI, Chuadanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alliance Trade and Distribution Ltd and Dynamix Concrete Ltd.

He is the president/chairperson of Tara Devi Foundation, Dwarka Das Mohila College, Diamond World Media Ltd and Carnival Cruise Line Limited. His Diamond World is the first sponsor of the national women’s cricket team.

Dilip won the MD of the Year award by Retail Jeweller World magazine in 2022. Apart from that, he won the Business Asia Award while Diamond World won the Best Jewellery Company in Bangladesh honour and the Channel i Best Jewellery Award over the years.

He has been also conferred with the Lifetime Achievement honour by Chuadanga Press Club and the Chuadanga Unit of Bangladesh Sangbadik Samity.

Dilip has also written four books. They are Adammya Bangladesh (2017), Digital Bangladesh (2018), Shamvabanar Bangladesh (2018), and Agrojatrar Bangladesh (2019). He is also the editor and Publisher of diamondnews24.com.