Mitosh Patel, 38, is a school dropout. He earns about ₹18,000 a month by spending about three hours a day cutting and polishing diamonds in a small room beside his house in Rajkot district of Gujarat. But he has not earned anything for the past 100 days due to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
“I have not got the the raw diamond of patli (small) size which I cut and polish here in my house since the beginning of the war. The agents of big factories in Surat bring the raw material to my house and I get my payment as and when I finish my work. Some of my relatives and friends who are experts in cutting diamonds earn more than ₹1 lakh a month. They also haven’t got any work in the past 100 days,” Mr. Patel says.
Mr. Patel is among the roughly five lakh people in rural Gujarat who are engaged in cutting and polishing of diamonds for nearly two generations. The non-availability of raw material, mostly from Russia, has left them jobless for over three months now.
“We have seen the 2008 recession which led to a huge decrease in demand. The industry was closed for about 35 days and lakhs of people lost jobs. Now, the situation is different. We import 100% of our raw materials from Russia, Australia and African countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe and Congo. Seventy-five per cent of the consumption of end products is by the United States directly or indirectly. Due to the problems between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. has put a ban on Russian companies. Nearly 27% to 30% of raw materials are from Russia. In patli size, almost 70% is imported from Russia,” says Dinesh Navadia, Regional Chairman of Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
The entire work of small diamond cutting and polishing is done in rural Gujarat. They do farm work in the morning and polish and cut the raw diamond in the evening. “Diamond gets its real value after our work,” Mr. Patel says, seeking help from the government.
The solitaire stones, which are slightly costly and big, are handled by the processing units in the city of Surat. Nearly 12 lakh people work in this sector apart from about five lakh in rural Gujarat. Nearly 70% of these workers are from Gujarat followed by workers from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Kerala.
The workforce was mostly from the Patel community earlier. The funding for their work was done by traders belonging to the Jain community. Now, both communities have a stronghold over the trade of diamonds.
The new generation is looking for office jobs and other vocations. But Bhavnagar, Amreli, Junagarh, Rajkot and Surat districts have a huge number of workers. “We have urged the Centre to intervene. But the solution is not possible at the moment. U.S. has banned even Indian products. As U.S. is the main market, we have to abide by their decisions,” Mr. Navadia, who is also the national treasurer of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, says.
Workers in the city are also working on a restrained environment. “We used to get only one day as weekly off. Now, Saturday and Sunday are off days. The work hours have been reduced to six from eight. The work is mostly on solitaire diamonds,” says Pradip, a city-based worker.
A small processing unit owner who wished not to be named says he had to close down his unit due to the non-availability of raw material.
"I had 70 workers under me. None of them have jobs now," he adds.
Rise in demand
One interesting factor is that compared with other sectors, demand has increased for diamonds due to the changing trend of investment among youngsters in the United States.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were fearing loss of at least 25%. But our exports boomed during the lockdown. The investment pattern of youngsters in U.S. seems to have changed. They are buying diamond ornaments using their investment. The demand has increased. It is a historically golden period for diamond sector,” Mr. Navadia says.
According to the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, total exports of gems and jewels was about $37 billion in 2021-22 compared with $27 billion in the previous year.
“We have unprecedented demand. The Prime Minister himself is taking initiative and he has promised that there will be a proper policy on value addition in this sector so that 100% benefit comes to India. The trade war between China and the West is benefiting us. The work has increased. 400 new factories are now making jewellery. We are trying to train youngsters in designing jewellery,” Mr. Navadia says.
