Amit Chavda, President of GPCC Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, has written a letter to Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi regarding the issues faced by diamond artisans.
· Jaynarayan Vyas said that due to American tariffs and the global recession, Surat’s diamond industry and its workers have been severely affected, and state government should immediately announce a relief package and a rehabilitation plan.
While responding to media questions related to GST at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, Ahmedabad senior Congress leader and former Cabinet Minister Jay Narayan Vyas said Surat’s diamond industry has emerged as one of the world’s most important centers, not just of Gujarat. By numbers, almost 90% of the world’s diamonds sold in the global market go through Surat at some stage or the other. The diamond and jewelry industry directly and indirectly provides livelihoods to about 10 lakh workers in Surat.
The activity of Surat’s diamond sector has been growing continuously for more than 6.5 decades. Naturally, any industry that has run for such a long period sees ups and downs.
For the past 2 to 3 years, Surat’s diamond industry has been caught in the grip of recessionary trends. No industrial or commercial system can continue uninterrupted growth forever. Even in the past, Surat’s diamond industry has faced ups and downs due to various reasons — whether it was technological upgradation, flooding, or epidemics such as plague or COVID. Yet, the industry has always risen from setbacks and reached new milestones of success.
Alongside Surat, the diamond industry is directly linked with units in Bhavnagar and Amreli (Saurashtra region) and Palanpur and Deesa (North Gujarat). For the last 2 to 3 years, Surat’s diamond industry has been facing challenges due to three major factors:
