Saurashtra Polishing Activity Increases as Workforce Shifts

While Surat is the global hub for polished diamonds, much of the work depends upon skilled migrant workers but they prefer to remain in their hometowns. Given this, polishing work is beginning to shift to units that are situated in the Saurashtra region of India - in cities such as Rajkot, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Junagadh, Rapaport reported.
Speaking exclusively with Rapaport News, Dinesh Navadia, the president of the Surat Diamond Association (SDA), said, “The diamond polishing industry in Surat prior to 1985 was concentrated in the rural parts of the city. That is how Surat got established as a diamond polishing hub. It was after 1985 that the polishing units were set up within the main city. Cost of living here, until a few years ago, was reasonable but things are getting expensive now in terms of rent and food. The workers who come from outside Surat cannot afford this. With Uniform Wage Structure today, a worker in any of the cities outside Surat would get the same money as he would in Surat. Hence, a lot of polishing units are getting active in places likes Rajkot, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar.”
Navadia is of the opinion that this shift is good news for the industry and by no means does it diminish the importance of Surat as the city will undoubtedly remain the diamond hub of the world.
He explains, “Only the polishing units shall become more active in the cities mentioned above. But the core of activities - that is sorting rough, cleaning, polishing grading, etc. shall  happen in Surat.”