Tarekh Sheikh has just returned to Surat from his village in Uttar Pradesh. He left the city in one of the first special trains to Uttar Pradesh during the lockdown. As a worker in a diamond unit in Surat, whose 20,000-plus units cut and polish nine out of every 10 rough diamonds in the world, Parekh was earning over ₹600 per day. He tried farming back home but realised that earnings were not enough to feed his family of seven, including three children and parents. He decided to return when former colleagues told him on phone that diamond factories in Surat were re-opening. Though prospects are not very bright now due to persisting coronavirus fears, he is confident of getting his old job back as “sethji has got some big orders.”
This is a sea change from just six months ago when the future looked dark due to sudden shutdown of factories and that too after several quarters of recession for the diamond industry. Cut and polished diamond exports fell 48.31 per cent in FY20.
Then came the lockdown. India’s diamond exports fell 37 per cent to $5.5 billion in first half of FY21 and are expected to be 20-25 per cent lower for the full financial year.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. After several painful quarters, the industry, based in Surat, is looking forward to demand revival as the global holiday season approaches. Also, many big diamond mines across the world are shutting down, which means prices will firm up as high quality and fancy diamonds, one of the last words in luxury, become more precious and rare. The worst seems to be over for the Indian diamond industry.
Going Rare
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