Within the wake of the continuing hunch within the diamond trade hitting jobs and companies within the sector, a crew from the Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and Gem and Jewelry Nationwide Aid Basis visited Botad district to evaluate the scenario on Tuesday.
The six-member visiting crew led by Praveen Shankar Pandya, Chairman of the Basis and Chairperson of the Indian Institute of Administration at Ranchi, met numerous stakeholders, together with merchants and diamond-cutters.
Botad district has a large presence of diamond trade gamers.
Addressing a gathering of diamond producers, merchants and cutters at diamond-trading market space at Ratnadeep in Botad city, Pandya appealed to the attendees to not lose hope, assuring them that the scenario would enhance after March 2025 following the conclusion of the presidential elections within the US.
Sources mentioned because of the ongoing tensions between Israel-Palestine, Iran-Lebanon, and Russia-Ukraine together with the approaching elections within the US, the demand for polished diamonds within the worldwide market has dipped.
The toughest hit within the state are diamond cutters who’re going through decreased salaries attributable to discount in workload.
Sources mentioned that over 50% of diamond factories have shut down during the last two years and hundreds of diamond cutters have change into jobless, with some switching over to different strains of labor.
To grasp the situation of diamond-cutters or polishers, Pandya and his crew visited totally different factories in addition to villages in Botad city.
“There are over 1,300 small and medium diamond factories in your entire district. Whereas a small manufacturing facility has a minimal 25 diamond- cutters, massive factories every have 700 of them. There are over 80,000 folks concerned in slicing and sharpening diamonds. Apart from, there are over 1,500 diamond merchants. The diamond traded and manufactured in Botad is immediately equipped to huge merchants in Mumbai and later exported to international international locations,” mentioned Shanker Dholu, President of Botad District Diamond Affiliation.
He additional mentioned, “There are numerous factories, which couldn’t survive the recession and shut down. The work drive has shifted to different areas with some staff returning to agriculture.”
Pandya asserted: “The diamond trade has been going via a tricky interval for the final couple of years. After visiting totally different factories and interacting with a lot of diamond-cutters, we discovered that whereas they might work from 8am to 8pm throughout Diwali interval earlier, this time they’re working fewer hours in two shifts: 8 am to 11 am, and a couple of pm to five.30 pm. Their work has gone down from 50 to 70%.”
He additional added, “We’ll return to Mumbai, speak to the trustees and see what will be finished for the diamond cutters of Botad. The main downside is that diamond cutters get much less work and even the manufacturing facility house owners’ scenario is crucial attributable to lack of demand for polished diamonds within the worldwide market.”
Pandya identified that the diamond trade is just not given the form of subsidy prolonged to different sectors. “We’ll make representations to the Ministry, put ahead the situation of the trade and search help,” he mentioned.
“Presently, each wars (Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine) are at their peak. There may be additionally the election within the US. We imagine the scenario will final until March 2025 after which worldwide demand might enhance and the trade will begin gaining momentum,” he added.
Arrange by the Centre, GJEPC is an apex physique that goals to advertise the gem and jewelry trade within the nation.
