Unlock 3.0: Surat diamond industry crawls back to work amid relaxed norms

Number of hours of operations extended from four to six; industry is estimated to be sitting with a rough diamond inventory of over $2 billion before fresh supply can be imported for polishing

With daily Covid-19 cases stabilising in Surat and Unlock 3.0 set to kick in, the city’s diamond industry is slowly resuming operations. The civic authorities have allowed a maximum of two diamond polishing workers at each table, against the earlier practice of four, based on an industry representation.

Surat, the world’s largest diamond polishing hub, has been reeling from the pandemic with a flurry of positive cases bringing its diamond polishing industry to a near standstill. Soon after Unlock 1, the industry — which is estimated to polish nine of 10 rough diamonds in the world — resumed operations, but a