Lack of facilities takes sheen off gem exports from Surat

Without an airport, foreign clients are reluctant to come to the diamond city

Many diamond traders from the city are opening offices in Mumbai for exports as Surat does not offer them sufficient infrastructure, including a fully functional airport.

Although Surat accounts for over 90 per cent of all diamonds cut and polished anywhere in the world, exports from the city or Gujarat are almost negligible.

The primarily reason for this, diamond traders say, is the lack of an airport in the diamond city.

This has forced traders to open offices in Mumbai to carry out export activities.

Surat is the biggest centre of diamond trade in the country and 99 per cent of the diamonds polished in Surat are exported to various countries, while the remaining one per cent are used domestically.

Chandrakant Sanghvi, a leading city-based diamond manufacturer, said, "The diamond industry is suffering due to lack of an airport. Our foreign clients come to Mumbai by flight, but are reluctant to come to Surat as they have to travel either by train or by road. It consumes a lot of time and causes much inconvenience for them."

"Because our clients do not want to travel to Surat, we have to maintain offices in Mumbai. In many cases, even if the clients are willing to travel to Surat, we are reluctant to bring them to the city as there are hardly any good hotels here. Under these circumstances, the only option before us is to open offices in Mumbai. We have to do it, though it costs us a lot of money," Sanghvi said.

Sanghvi said a number of representations have been made to the government, but no steps have been taken to start the airport and there are no signs of the airport becoming operational in the near future.

Sanghvi said an airport will help all industries in the city.

Pravin Nanavati, former president of the Surat Diamond Association said, "Until Surat gets a full-fledged airport, the local diamond industry cannot flourish. If the airport is functional, we need not to open offices in Mumbai as we can bring our foreign clients directly to Surat. But unfortunately, this is not the case and we have to maintain offices in Mumbai, from where the business is run."

Chunibhai Gajera, a leading diamond exporter, said three factors hamper the growth of Surat's diamond industry.

"There is no international or even a domestic airport in Surat. Secondly, no bank in the city provides the latest foreign exchange rates and there are no arrangements for customs clearance. In short, there is no infrastructure that is required for the growth of the industry," Gajera said.

"We have to do business and for that we have to keep offices in Mumbai, which costs a lot of money. If the airport is started and other facilities are provided, we don't need to open offices in Mumbai. We can save a lot of money. It will also lead to increase in revenue of the state government in the form of various taxes," Gajera said.

Gajera said, "We have been hearing about setting up of an airport in Surat for the last 15 to 20 years, but nothing has happened so far. The way things are going, I feel it would take some more years before an airport in Surat becomes a reality."