Scandal and slowdown: Diamond hub Surat latest pillar of economy to wobble

Banks have been scared off from lending to jewelers in Surat after the Nirav Modi scandal broke, with credit to the sector down 14% in October from March 2018.

When Avdhesh Pandey reported for work five months ago at one of the thousands of diamond polishing factories in India’s sprawling western city of Surat, he found the doors were locked. The owner had fled overnight without informing his 40 workers.

“The owner shut shop without paying us our monthly salary,” 33-year-old Pandey said in an interview at the home of a labor union colleague, taking a short break from another fruitless day of job hunting. Having lost his monthly income of Rs 22,000, Pandey said he’s “been roaming the streets in the past month and more trying to get another