Opinion | Surat Diamond Bourse: A Boon For Artisans And Businessmen

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s largest corporate office complex in Surat on August 17, 2023. Surat Diamond Bourse is now the world’s largest office complex, breaking the title held by the Pentagon for the past 80 years. More than 60,000 people will be able to work here simultaneously. Built on 35.54 acres of land at a cost of Rs 3400 crore, Surat Diamond Bourse is set to become a global hub for trading of rough and polished diamonds.

Diamond Bourse is the world’s largest interconnected building, built on the principles of green building concept to conserve energy, with over 4,500 interconnected offices. The building has the capacity to accommodate 4,200 traders from 175 countries who mostly will come to Surat to buy polished diamonds. This trade facility will add employment to approximately 1.5 lakh people and will provide a global platform for diamond buyers from all corners of the world to do business in Surat. Thus, the Diamond Exchange will be the world’s largest and modern centre for international diamond and jewellery trading.

This is a new achievement for Surat, which already shares the top slot among emerging metropolises in the world. Surat’s never-say-no attitude is responsible for this mammoth growth of the city, which has grown to 7.5 million from 1.5 million in just three decades. This characteristic comes from the positive attitude of the entrepreneurs towards development rather than the governmental development of Surat. For more than 60 years, traders from Surat continued to go to Mumbai to sell diamonds. One member of the family goes to Antwerp to buy rough diamonds, the other one works to cut diamonds in a factory in Surat and the third one works to sell cut diamonds in Mumbai. Gujarati people live in joint families, but the diamond business had made their families helpless to live separately.

But after the terrorist attacks on Mumbai and the bomb blasts at the diamond trading centre Panchratna and after political stability in Gujarat, the diamond traders, giving priority to their safety and family, decided that they should do business in Surat. Because going to Mumbai by train with diamonds every day is a risky task. Earlier you could see diamond traders jostling for seats on every morning train. Consider that you do business worth thousands of crores, and you are struggling every day for a seat on the train because travelling by road takes more time and there is also the question of security.

Let’s take a look at the world’s diamond industry

• Trading of the world’s rough diamonds takes place in Antwerp, Belgium
• The major producing countries of rough diamonds in the world are Russia (31 per cent), Botswana (20 per cent), Congo (12 per cent), Canada (10 per cent), Australia and Angola (7 per cent) and South Africa (6 per cent)
• 95 per cent of the world’s rough diamonds are polished in Surat, India
• Polished diamonds are traded in Mumbai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai

Diamond is mined in Russia and Africa and traded in Antwerp and Hong Kong. Diamonds are polished in Surat but traded in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Dubai.

Being away from family, and travelling excessively, this is where the feeling of establishing the Surat Diamond Bourse might have originated in the minds of the traders of Surat. Today, when the building of Surat Diamond Bourse has acquired the tag of the world’s largest diamond trading hub, people from all over the world will come to Surat to buy diamonds. Now the traders here will save time, which they can use to increase business and be more active in social work. Diamond traders Seventi Bhai Shah, Govind Dholakia, Savji Dholakia, Mathur Savani, Vallabh Savani etc. are such names who are more recognised for their social work. They’ve built big hospitals and schools.

There are many other aspects of Diamond Exchange coming to Surat; it will also be of great benefit to India’s growing dominance in the world. The diamond trade is worth several lakhs of crores which was not yet under the control of India. Now we can create pressure to trade in Indian currency, which will save foreign exchange reserves and dollar exchange commission.

Till now, America and Israel have dominated diamond trading. Due to being in India, the traders here had no control over it. Now they will be able to run the business on their own terms and conditions, gradually control the entire trading and get the real profit from the diamonds. De-dollarised economy will get a big push. Surat will get the biggest benefit from Diamond Exchange, which will increase employment along with investment in the construction, hospitality, and aviation sectors.

There is no flight from Surat to Mumbai, foreign businessmen have to come via Delhi to reach Surat. How successful the diamond exchange will be will depend on the air connectivity of Surat. If the city does not have regular flights from foreign countries and major cities of India, especially Mumbai, then the euphoria of Diamond Bourse will not last long and traders may have to face the shocks of Mumbai again.

Gopal Goswami is a research Scholar, Columnist, and Ideator of Surat LitFest. He tweets at X with @igopalgoswami. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.