The Gujarat Government has given nod for an ambitious Rs10,000-crore Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) project with a view to emerge Surat as one of the most important diamond trading hubs in the world.
Already 12,000 diamond firms that include 2,000 overseas firms, have given their demand letters to open their offices in the proposed building of SDB near Surat.
Sources in the Gujarat Government said that the State Government is planning to develop a state-of-the-art industrial infrastructure on 2,000 acres of land near Khajod village, situated on the outskirt of Surat. The upcoming industrial facilities are being planned in lines with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project — Gujarat International Finance Tech City (GIFT), which is under development near Gandhinagar to promote Gujarat’s capital as international financial hub.
“SDB will be part of the upcoming industrial cluster near Fajod. The bourse will house minimum 12,000 offices. Already the SDB development committee has received demand letters from 5,000 Mumbai-based diamond processing firms, 2,000 overseas firms and 5,000 firms from Surat, Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar,” said Mathur Savani, one of the 12 committee members of the proposed SDB. The Committee has demanded 3 lakh meters of land from the State Government. Out of every 100 diamond processed in the world, 90 are processed in Surat alone, claims Savani adding that despite the fact exports of the processed diamonds are being done from Mumbai and for the raw material, the processing units have to be dependent upon Antwerp (Belgium).
Once SDB will be created, not only exports but availability of raw material (rough diamond) would be easier for thousands of diamond processing units in Surat.Minimum one lakh people will start working at the proposed bourse, once construction of the bourse would be completed, he said, adding that groundbreaking ceremony of the project will be done within the next four months.
As per ASSOCHAM report, India accounts for about 95 per cent share of the world’s diamond cutting and polishing business and Gujarat accounts for about 80 per cent of total diamond processing done throughout India. Interestingly, Surat accounts for more than 90 per cent of diamond processing activities in Gujarat.
A senior official said that the State Government envisaged developing an integrated industrial zone, where there would be hotels, banks, shopping malls, entertainment facilities, sports complex, gardens, schools and residential zones too.Apart from diamond bourse — the State Government is also eyeing to attract offices of jewellery, textile and jari work, he added.