Surat diamond bourse on fast track after hiccups

Land allotted, foundation laying ceremony soon

After initial hiccups, the proposed Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) is on a fast track, with land being allotted by the state government and a foundation stone-laying ceremony likely next month.

Having set up a company run by a 31-member committee comprising leading diamond polishing and trading players, SDB will soon witness a foundation stone-laying ceremony. To be set up in roughly four years, the project will give the country its second exchange for the product, after Mumbai’s Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB). The likely investment is Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

The project is part of the 2,000-acre Surat Dream City, being set up on the lines of the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

“Around 12,000 diamond merchants have signed up for the project. Spread across 100 acres, the bourse will see offices and trading zones in an area of 15 million sq ft. We will soon be issuing tenders and later contracts for construction work on the bourse,” said Mathurbhai Savani, one of the members at SDB.

Sectoral sources stated that, among others, SDB is in talks with Larsen & Toubro, the engineering and construction major.

According to members of the Surat Diamond Association (SDA), the project intends to attract global traders, including from West Asia. SDB functionaries had addressed traders and brokers at Bharat Diamond Bourse last week on the progress. A functionary of the latter in Mumbai said the diamond industry was one and they needed more of such infrastructure.

Surat is the country's largest diamond processing hub. As mentioned, the bourse will be part of the Surat Dream City, meant to offer other infrastructure backbone such as hotels, hospitals, financial institutions and other ancillary services. It is being said that the state government's Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board will launch a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the latter project, planned in three phases. The SPV is also likely to see Surat Diamond Bourse as an anchor company.