Mass layoffs in diamond Industry in India

Wed, 01 Apr 2009

With the global financial crisis crippling demand for precious stones, India's diamond industry has laid off 50 per cent of its labour force as export orders dry up, according to trade officials.

In the trading city of Surat where eight out of 10 of the world's diamonds are processed, diamond cutters work around the clock sorting, cutting and polishing stones in order to meet export orders from Europe and the USA . However, the worldwide economic slump has forced mass layoffs in Surat's multi-billion-dollar diamond trade which, before the crisis, employed around a million workers directly or indirectly.

Rohit Mehta of the Surat Diamond Association, said: "Diamonds aren't a necessity, they're a luxury and the first thing people stop buying when times get tough."

Since 1960, the port city of Surat, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, has been renowned as a low-cost hub for processing rough diamonds imported from African nations, Australia, Russia and more recently from Dubai .
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