The world’s largest manufacturing center faces some unfamiliar challenges amid apparent supply and labor shortages.

(diamonds.net) - “We’ve seen it all before,” was the collective sigh that rang through Mumbai’s massive Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) when the pandemic initially broke out. “We got through other crises, and we’ll get through this one.” The local diamond trade has a reputation for its distinct brand of optimism and cautious confidence, having thrived through the 2008 downturn and survived the many challenges in the decade since. Some of those challenges have been uniquely Indian. There was the round-tripping debacle of 2012, which fueled a bubble in bank credit and diminished lenders’ trust in the trade. And there was the government’s demonetization program in 2016 — often referred to as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on cash. While demonetization was deemed necessary to counter the rampant money laundering in the country, it sucked liquidity from the local diamond trade, putting businesses — predominantly small ones — under additional pressure in an already difficult market. When it comes to global crises, India’s diamond community has been able to work in a more unified way. Yet in 2020, when the global market shut down as Covid-19 began to spread in late March, India’s dealers, manufacturers and jewelers — like those across the globe — were left dumbfounded. It soon became clear this was unlike anything they had previously experienced. Uncertainty and fear that the economic impact of the pandemic would surpass all other crises set in. This time, Indian manufacturers didn’t need to take such deliberate collective actions, though they claim to have done so anyway. The market made the decision for them: Mining companies stopped selling rough, and trading froze. Besides, no one could travel to buy goods.