A Struggle to Sparkle

It was a plan that glittered like a freshly cut gem.

- Jumana Shah

Five years ago, the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) was deemed the perfect antidote for the growing chaos and cost inflation of Mumbai, where most of India’s diamond traders are based—swankier, cheaper and larger offices for diamond traders, wider roads, planned international and national air connectivity through an upgraded airport. The icing on the top would be the proposed bullet train connecting Surat with Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) within two hours. It was conceptualised with an explicit, and ambitious, mission of replacing Mumbai’s BKC-based Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) as India’s main diamond trading hub—a kind of natural forward integration, since almost all the diamonds traded in Mumbai are polished in Surat. But the perfect plot on paper has palled considerably when put in practice. Seven months after its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, only 60 of the SDB’s 4,200 offices are functional. Though backed by an assertive BJP government, it has failed to motivate traders from Mumbai to expand or shift out of the metropolis. The reasons range from a downturn in the global premium jewellery market to a perceived lack of ecosystem in Surat.