This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 8 in 2019. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
Will the new International Diamond Bourse in Surat eclipse the diamond exchanges in Mumbai, Tel Aviv and Antwerp, enabling the currently unorganized diamond industry in India to gain momentum? It will not be an easy operation. The Surat Diamond Bourse, the single largest office building in the world, is under construction and is expected to provide 620,000 square meters and 4,500 offices varying in sizes from 28 square meters to 7000 square meters. Nonetheless the condition of the diamond industry in Gujarat is very unstable, showing a slowdown for nearly three straight years. “The crisis will deepen in the coming days if certain things are not rectified”, declared Dinesh Navadiya, regional chairman of the Gems and Jewelery Export Promotion Council. The crisis made jobless nearly 10% of the total Gujarat diamond workers, of which 13,000 are from Surat. In between July and mid-October 15 people engaged in the diamond business committed suicide.
The fall in the demand for diamonds in China, due to the tightening of duties, has interrupted this crucial export flow. Approximately 42% of Gujarat diamonds are sold to China, which then get routed to the US after being used in the jewelry manufacture. But a new space is opening up as reported by Jayantibhai Sarvaiya, president of the Surat Jewellery Manufacturers Association (SJMA) to the Hindustan Times: “Over the last three years, nearly 500 small and medium diamond jewellery manufacturing units have been set up in Surat. More than half of them have come up in the past one year or so when the polishing business went down”. There are indications that Surat owns skills and resources to compete with China in jewellery, especially if the new Bourse will enlarge its connection to the world market.
A new trend is also emerging, reverse migration from Surat to their rural villages of workers formerly engaged as diamond cutters and now attracted by a favorable monsoon season. Are crops more profitable than gemstones? We’ll see.
Gem News published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #8, Winter 2019
