In Surat, traders currently operating in the bazaar with low overhead costs may be reluctant to relocate into a shiny new office.
Pic: Social Media
While Mumbai has long been the center of exports for diamonds in India, Surat, also known as “Diamond City,” dominates in the processing of the precious gems, with about 90 per cent of the world’s rough diamonds cut and polished there before they are sold to buyers in places like the US and China. To subscribe please click tau.id/2iy6f and access our live channel.
In the heart of Gujarat, India, an architectural marvel stands as a testament to the region’s economic prowess and global significance in the diamond industry. The Surat Diamond Bourse, hailed as the world’s largest official building, is a dazzling symbol of Surat’s dominance in the diamond trade.
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The Surat Diamond Bourse in Gujarat, which covers a constructed area of 6.7 million square feet (620,000 square meters), became the world’s largest office complex when it was completed in July for 32 billion rupees ($384 million).
The new complex is located inside the Diamond Research and Mercantile City, a business district modelled after the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or Gift City, another one of Prime Minister Modi’s flagship projects.
It has nine 15-story towers and about 4,700 offices. About 130 offices are already in use, according to Nagjibhai Sakariya, president of the Surat Diamond Bourse. The complex also dwarfs the Israel Diamond Exchange, which covers 80,000 square meters.
However, the Tel Aviv complex not only houses over 1,000 offices but also contains services such as insurers, banks, a post office, a customs office, and entertainment, food and religious facilities. About 130 offices are already in use, according to Nagjibhai Sakariya, president of the Surat Diamond Bourse.
Surat’s biggest bazaar, Mahidharpura, buildings house rows of desks with traders dealing precious stones under bright lamps, and some of them spill out into the streets where they inspect diamonds on cotton sheets walking walk around the city with the stones wrapped tightly in white papers or small pouches sewn onto the insides of their shirts.
While the cost of living is lower there and the concentration of businesses in the new bourse will reduce the need for commuting, the bourse is located on the outskirts of Surat with little in terms of amenities or entertainment nearby.
Some Mumbai-based diamond businesses may also feel resistant to moving to Surat as its poorly connected, with its airport offering only one international flight, to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Moreover, many of the diamonds processed originate from Siberia, and the industry has suffered after the US placed sanctions on a Russian diamond miner.
