Why world's biggest office, the Surat Diamond Bourse, has left traders divided

The advent of the Surat Diamond Bourse has created a rift within the diamond trading community after the new diamond trading centre announced enticing incentives for diamond traders to close their offices in Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai and relocate their operations to Surat.

While Bharat Diamond Bourse handled global trade, Surat, in years, had emerged as the major centre for cutting and polishing rough diamonds owing to cheap labour costs. In an attempt to make it as a global trade hub as well, the Surat Diamond Bourse offered a waive off in maintenance for one year for the diamond traders, if they moved into the Surat bourse by November 21 this year, and also assured to permanently display names of the companies prominently, if they moved in sooner.

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Rift in trading community

The ongoing dispute between Surat and Mumbai diamond traders has led the diamond traders in Surat to form a separate association — Surat Diamond Traders’ Association (SDTA), despite the existence of the long standing Surat Diamond Association (SDA) established in the 1980s.

The Surat diamond industry is one of the largest in the world, accounting for about 90 per cent of India’s diamond exports and employing close to 8 lakh people. It is a major contributor to India’s gems and jewellery exports of about Rs 3 lakh crore.

The industry, has however, been facing recession in recent years due to global factors such as trade wars, currency fluctuations, environmental issues and geopolitical tensions. For the period of April 2022-March 2023, the overall gross exports of cut and polished diamonds at Rs 1.76 lakh crore declined 2.97 per cent compared to the same period in 2021-2022, which was Rs 1.82 lakh crore. The recession in the diamond industry was further worsened by the Ukraine war this year and has forced several units to extend their vacation forcing thousands of workers out of job.

“The Surat bourse will facilitate diamond trade in the city and could not have come at a better time as the industry struggling with recession. Diamond merchants from Hong Kong, Dubai, Israel and Belgium have evinced keen interest to join the Surat Diamond Bourse. Apart from that we have received over 10,000 applications from diamond traders from across the country,” said Damjibhai Mavani, secretary of Surat Diamond Association. “Besides, for small and medium scale diamond traders, the cost incurred would lower by one third, if they can operate from Surat instead of travelling to Mumbai for business,” he added.

Largest office building

Surat Diamond Bourse, a vast 15-storey complex recently completed in the diamond city, boasts of surpassing Pentagon as the world’s largest office building. Architects of the project claim that the trading center has approximately 7.1 million square feet of floor space, making it the world’s largest office structure.

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Spread across more than 35 acres of land, the building took four years to build and is likely to be inaugurated later this year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The building has been planned to bring over 65000 diamond professionals, including cutters, polishers, and traders scattered across Surat under one roof.

The Surat diamond industry that accounts for 80 percent of the world’s polished diamonds, has been operating from Maidarpura, Varachha and Katargam areas of the city where the factories are located.

The new building has been designed to accommodate over 4700 office spaces, which may also double as mini workshops for diamond cutting and polishing. This apart the building also includes 131 elevators, multiple cafeterias, retail, fitness centers, and conference facilities for the diamond businessmen.