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IN DEPTH: Indian Diamond Industry |
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IN DEPTH: Indian Diamond Industry |
T
he Indian diamond cutting centers are concentrated in Bombay and Surat, a small town about five hours away from Bombay. Small boys, sometimes as young as 10 years old, work in hot sheds chiseling roughs which eventually get sold in the fancy shops on Fifth Avenue and Bond Street. Their nimble fingers and sharp eyes enable them to cut these diamonds  Diamond cutting and polishing workshop in Bombay. |
in remarkable shapes, but while they earn well for these
skills many of them find their eyesight getting progressively
weaker as they grow older.
But India has a large labor force and this has made the country
the biggest diamond cutting center for small roughs. Indeed,
were it not for Indian workers, many of these small diamonds
would be put to industrial use rather than jewelry. The Indian
diamond trade generates over 4 billion dollars in exports
every year -- this represents an almost 25 percent value
addition to the imports of roughs.
The trade itself is controlled by a handful of companies and
families, most of whom hail from the small town of Palanpur in
Gujarat. Many of them are fabulously rich and divide their time
between India, Belgium, Israel and other western countries.
This entire high-skill, high value trade has recently been
shaken up by the conflict between the De Beers-Central Selling
Organization (CSO) global diamond cartel, and Argyle of
Australia, one of the biggest players in international
diamond trade.
| We have a report on India's reaction to this war. |
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Sidharth Bhatia
is a senior Indian journalist who runs a well known television program on Indian business and current affairs. A former newspaper editor and foreign correspondent, Bhatia has written for several publications in India and abroad.