Surat records huge surge in direct rough diamond imports

The Diamond city Surat has created a record of sorts with the import of rough diamonds directly to Surat witnessing a massive surge compared to the traditional gateway Mumbai, as per a report in Times of India.
According to the report rough diamond imports into Surat was nearly four times more than Mumbai during the current financial year.
In the financial year 2019-20, Surat’s import of roughs was marginally more than that from Mumbai. But, import of roughs in Mumbai dropped drastically in 2020-21 during Covid-19 pandemic while it grew slightly in the Surat. However, the city's famed diamond cutting and polishing industry regained its sparkle rapidly.
"The major reason for such a big surge is that smaller diamond manufacturing units have started importing rough directly to the city. They are taking delivery through the courier here," said Dinesh Navadiya, regional chairman, GJEPC.
"Earlier, some other people, who were traditionally importing roughs, used to get them at Mumbai and later the Surat-based units collected them. Hence, the imports in Mumbai were high. GJEPC ran programs to create awareness among the unit owners to empower them and they gradually started importing directly here," said Navadiya.
Experts claim the GST-related formalities are also one of the reasons for directly importing the roughs to the city instead Mumbai. The roughs reach India from different mining countries across the globe through air.
"If they import at Mumbai, they will have to do processes related to GST for transporting the consignments to Surat," Navadiya explained.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished