Diamond traders come together to address crisis

In order to pitch for their demands collectively, diamond traders in Gujarat have come together. All the diamond associations have decided to form a new federation, which will give voice to the problems faced by the industry, which is currently reeling under crisis.

“We have constituted a committee comprising of 11 members. The members include presidents of 11 different diamond associations in Gujarat. However, the registration of the proposed association is yet to be done,” said C P Vanani, president, Surat Diamond Association (SDA).

“All the diamond associations have set the ball rolling for forming a new federation. The basic objective is to make collective efforts to tide over the current situation,” said Chandrakant Sanghvi, regional convener for Gujarat, Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

The diamond industry is facing various problems, including job and business losses, due to global recession. “The federation will make representations to state as well as Union government and demand help of both the governments to overcome the problems faced by the industry,” Vanani added.

Gujarat currently has as many as 22 diamond associations. However, they have so far operated in isolation without much co-ordination among them. “We have asked all the associations to come up with the details of the difficulties faced by them. We will collect data from all the associations and work out our demands to made to State and Union government,” he added.

According to industry players diamond trading has come to a standstill as only 10 per cent trading is being done at present. Apart from this, some of the units are also closing down due to lack of business. It may be mentioned here that around 1 lakh diamond workers have lost their jobs amid recession.