Kolkata: Surat’s diamond industry has declared a month-long closure till November 30 this year, instead of the usual 15 days around Diwali, amid tepid demand for natural diamonds from the US and China, its two biggest customers. The largest diamond hub of the country, Surat has about 5,000 diamond-cutting and polishing units, employing nearly 800,000…
Representative image A steep, narrow, barely lit staircase leads to Vinubhai Parmar’s rooftop room in Surat. Inside, folding beds and scattered kitchenware hint at a life in distress. His teenage sons, Shivam and Dhruv, sit cross-legged on the floor, doing their homework. At 18, Shivam has come to terms with the upheaval at home after…
Kolkata: The 5,000 diamond-cutting and polishing units in Surat that employ more than a million workers have slashed work hours from 12 hours to 8 hours and increased weekly holidays to three from one, thereby reducing wages, as demand from overseas markets is still very low after muted response from Chinese buyers at the recently…
