For ages, Surat has been India’s Diamond City, a moniker it deserved and treasured. However, the sector has suffered setbacks in recent times. There was a time Surat offered jobs to 8 lakh workers in 4,000-odd polishing units. But the decline in demand for cut and polished diamonds in China and in the West has cost approximately 20,000 workers their jobs, according to a report published in January.
The barren scenario could be gauged by the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB), spread across 6.7 million square feet, but remains devoid of activities.
The diamond trading business is facing headwinds after Ramzan, claims a national daily. The war in Ukraine, the recession in the US and the dollar rate has had an adverse impact on the sector.
Even the middlemen in the diamond chain are suffering. In the past, they would get 2% commission on each sale. But now, online trading has dented their pockets.
The SDB management, in a desperate attempt, is wooing Mumbai diamond merchants to set up workstations in Surat. According to the proposal published by the daily, Mumbai diamond merchants, who set up their office in Khajod on the outskirts of Surat, will not have to pay maintenance charges. The condition is that they must settle in by November 21 this year, an SDB circular issued on May 27 said.
The maintenance charge is a carrot. As of now, Mumbai diamond traders, who operated from Panchratna at Opera House earlier, have been paying a huge rental amounts. The rent at the Bharat Diamond Bourse at BKC is reportedly in the range of Rs 700 per sq. ft, while the maintenance costs are at additional Rs 150-200 per sq. ft.
Kiran Export, which owns a seat on the board of the bourse, reportedly announced that they would shift operations to Surat. Sources have told the daily that while many Mumbai diamond traders have invested and purchased offices there, they might not start operations right away.
It’s rightly averred that Surat, despite being India’s diamond capital, can’t match Mumbai’s glamour and swanky offices. As the daily pointed out, it doesn’t compare with Mumbai in social infrastructure. Moreover, it doesn’t have a customs’ clearing house to process shipments.
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