The biggest news in the international diamond industry two days ago was the opening of the Surat Diamond Exchange (SDB) in India. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled it, praising it as a "symbol of new Indian power and determination" and "add 150,000 employment opportunities".
When reporting the incident, Indian media said that Surat Diamond Trading Centre (SDB) is the world's largest diamond trading workplace and India's most advanced diamond trading centre, and is an important milestone on India's "way to the global diamond and jewellery industry hub".
SDB has a construction area of more than 6.6 million square feet (also known as 6.7 million square feet), known as the "world's largest office building", surpassing the 6.5 million square feet of the United States Pentagon. Modi said at the opening ceremony that Surat will also create more jobs with the opening of facilities such as international banks, security vaults and jewellery malls.
Modi said at the meeting that with the establishment of SDB and its supporting facilities, Surat is transforming into a "radiant diamond city". According to Dinesh Navadiya, the convener of SDB media, including several diamond merchants from Mumbai, "many diamond merchants" have occupied their offices in SDB.
However, there is still opposition. There has been a dispute between the Surat Drilling Stock Exchange and the previous Mumbai Balat Drilling Exchange, which has not stopped accusing the "unfair competition" in the establishment of SDB. Then, just after Modi unveiled the Surat Diamond Exchange, Indian Congressman Milind Deora immediately said that if the diamond industry was lost from Maharashtra to Gujarat, it would be an "unfortunate" thing.
He posted on the social platform X (i.e. Twitter), recalling the scene in which he and his father, Murli Deora, a former member of Congress, unveiled the Balat Drill Exchange in Mumbai in 2010. He also added that Mumbai's gemstone and jewellery industry is one of the city's four major labour and tax sources.
"If Maharastra loses to Gujarat in this industry, it will be very unfortunate."
Deora's statement comes at a time when some well-known companies are considering transferring their bases to SDB: billionaires, diamond merchants, and KIran Gems directors Vallabhbhai Lakhani took the lead in transferring the business worth 170 billion rupees to Surat, bingwei Qi-employee has developed a "mini-town".
According to a member of the Surat Diamond Exchange Committee, nearly 1,000 diamond companies may stop operating in Mumbai and transfer to the Surat Diamond Exchange. Indian media believe that this will be a major blow to the tax revenue of Maharashtra.
However, even though there are many "discordant voices", the Surat Diamond Exchange is still opened in the "Blessing Sound of Modi". Its unveiling will undoubtedly be the imprint.
The diamond industry provides more import, export and transaction convenience, as well as the possibility of financing, which will help improve the efficiency of diamond trade and "reduce related costs" as the media said.
However, the Indian diamond industry also needs to solve some related problems, the biggest of which is the "still sluggish global diamond market". We commented on India's import and export data (especially exports) in November, and some similar articles appeared in the international media today. Although the dissemination of these contents is far less than "Modi's Blessings", only practitioners know what the actual problems they need to face now are.
Source: Diamond Observation