About 90% of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished in this port in the far west of India.
Hundreds of thousands of artisans cut the gemstones in some 4,000 workshops in Surat, before creating the sparkling jewelry.
In total, around one million people work in this industry in Gujarat, including traders and suppliers.
Russian mining giants, including Alrosa, have traditionally supplied more than a third of India’s cut rough diamonds.
But after the war in Ukraine, the supply decreased under the influence of Western sanctions, which excluded Russia from the international “Swift” banking system.
At the same time, Indian exports of cut and polished diamonds have plummeted as American and European companies refuse to buy diamonds from Russia.
Today, the leaders of the G7 countries gathered in Hiroshima are considering ways to collectively stifle the Russian diamond trade, while this trade represents between 4 and 5 billion dollars annually.
Britain went so far as to announce that it would ban Russian diamonds altogether.
Gujarat State Diamond Workers’ Union leader Rameshbai Zilria said the new sanctions would lead to the collapse of the industry.
“Workers are suffering from supply problems from Russia and weak demand. There are a lot of job losses and this will make the problem worse,” the union leader said in a report to AFP. .
“Eight workers committed suicide in about two weeks. The situation is getting worse,” he added.
Russia has been a strategic ally of India for decades because New Delhi has not publicly condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine.
But the biggest buyers of diamonds are Western companies that are required to submit to sanctions regimes.
According to dealers, large companies such as “Tiffany & Co”, “Chopard” or even “Pandora” refuse to buy Russian stones.
India’s exports of cut and polished diamonds reached $1.32 billion in April, according to data from the Gem and Jewelery Export Promotion Council, which said they were down 39%, or more than $800 million , compared to the same period last year.
According to the Chairman of the Council, Vipul Shah, special attention will be paid to the type of sanctions imposed on Russian diamonds.
“Russia is one of our main suppliers… supply will be limited, we will have a big problem… the immediate problem is employment, which will be affected in a worrying way,” he said. .
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