The Madhya Pradesh government, that invited bids from all over the world last October to undertake prospecting and mining for diamonds, has shortlisted two bidders, viz, the state-owned Corporation and Vishal Diamonds. The company will be the first in the private sector to enter this field. The bids submitted by De Beers and ACC-Rio Tinto were rejected on the grounds of being conditional. Madhya Pradesh has very promising diamond mining potential.

When asked about experience and plans of B Vijaykumar for the new activity, Bharat S Shah, CEO of the group said that Vishal Diamonds had some mining experience in South Africa and thus the group was not a novice in this field.

Though the bid was submitted to the MP government in the name of Vishal Diamonds, a new company named B Vijaykumar Diamond Mining Pvt. Ltd. has beenformed to implement the project.

As for the technical assistance needed, Shah said: ``as soon as formal communication is received, the new company will place orders for the necessary equipment and several technicians will be brought in from South Africa and Australia''.