Editor’s Note
This article explores how Surat, India, earned its title as the ‘Diamond City,’ detailing the industry’s six-decade rise to process over 90% of the world’s rough diamonds and employ nearly a million workers.
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Surat is widely known as the ‘Diamond City’. Over 90 per cent of the world’s rough diamonds are sent there to be cut and polished. The city’s diamond industry took off around six decades ago. Over the years, many people in the industry found their way to Surat. The city burnished its reputation for quality and efficiency in the 1980s and 1990s.
Today, the city is home to thousands of diamond polishing units. Between 800,000 and a million workers are said to be employed directly in Surat’s diamond industry. Another 500,000 are employed informally.
The Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB), located in the Diamond Research and Mercantile City, with its 7.1 million square feet of space, is said to be larger than the Pentagon. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023.
The Prime Minister spoke these words for good reason. After all, India’s gems and jewellery industry exports are valued at $28 billion – much of it to the United States. Data from the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) showed that India comprised 68 per cent of the volume and 42 per cent of the value of the US’s total diamond imports last year. India’s diamond exports to the US were valued at $5.79 billion in 2024.
Mahidharpura, Surat’s biggest bazaar, witnesses thousands of people gather every day to trade diamonds six days a week.
However, all has not been well for India’s diamond industry of late. First, a soft Chinese economy has seen the demand for diamonds slowing. India’s diamond exports were already at a two-decade low earlier this year. India’s exports of cut and polished diamonds (CPD) to the US have been dropping these past few years. CPD exports declined by nearly half between 2021-2022 to 2024-2025 – from $9.86 billion to $4.81 billion.
Then, in April, Trump dealt a fresh blow. US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on India are now in effect. The tariffs, a 25 per cent levy on India plus an additional 25 per cent for trading with Russia, are set to impact a number of sectors particularly textiles and seafood. The tariffs are now threatening to take the shine out of India’s diamond hub of Surat.
Since the US president announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in April, a pall has been cast over the city. Diamond cutting and polishing factories first began reducing their output. Then, they began cutting down on the number of working hours. Some also ventured into lab grown diamonds.
Today, the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) stands eerily quiet.
