Surat, a port city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, cuts and polishes most of the world's diamonds by number of stones. Its rise began in the 1960s and 1970s, when Indian workshops started cutting small, low-priced rough that European polishers could not handle at a profit. Trading families from Palanpur, many of them Jain, linked Surat's workshops to the rough markets of Antwerp, and the city grew into a cutting hub employing hundreds of thousands of people.
India's older diamond history
India was the world's main diamond source for most of history, with Borneo a small second source. Stones from the Golconda region in the Deccan supplied Indian rulers and, through traders, European courts until diamonds were found in Brazil in the 1720s. Indian polishers worked these stones for centuries, often keeping as much weight as possible with irregular faceting, as described in the history of faceted gems.
Surat itself was a major Mughal-era port, and European trading companies had offices there in the 17th century. That history gave the city a merchant tradition, but the modern diamond industry is a 20th-century story.
The Palanpuri Jain trading families
Palanpur is a town in northern Gujarat. In the early and middle 20th century, members of several Jain families from the area entered the diamond business, first as small traders and brokers in Bombay (now Mumbai). Some set up offices in Antwerp, the center of the rough trade, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Their model relied on close family and community networks. A relative in Antwerp could buy rough and send it to a relative in India, who would have it cut and send the polished stones back to be sold. Trust within the community reduced the need for formal contracts and let firms move quickly. Over time Palanpuri firms became a large presence in Antwerp's diamond district and in rough buying from major producers. Gujarati traders from Saurashtra and other areas also joined the business.
Why small diamonds went to India
Most of the diamonds that come out of the ground are small and of modest quality. In postwar Europe, labor was expensive, and a worker could not polish a tiny, low-grade stone for less than it would sell for. Much of this material went to industrial use or was not cut at all.
Indian workshops changed that. Wages were far lower, and workers could be trained quickly to polish small stones with a limited number of facets. Single-cut stones (with 17 or 18 facets) and later full-cut melee became cheap enough to set in large numbers in mass-market jewelry. The opening of the Argyle mine in Australia in the 1980s, which produced huge volumes of small brown and near-colorless diamonds, gave the Indian industry a large new supply. Rough from the diamond pipeline, including De Beers sights, also flowed increasingly to Indian buyers.
How Surat grew
Diamond polishing in Surat started on a small scale and expanded quickly from the 1970s. Many workers were migrants from rural Saurashtra in Gujarat who came to the city looking for work. They often learned on the job in small home units, and some later opened workshops of their own.
The industry was organized in layers. Large firms bought rough and sold polished goods, while much of the actual cutting was done in small units, sometimes in rooms holding a few polishing wheels. Workers were commonly paid by the piece. By the 1990s and 2000s, Surat's diamond workforce was usually described in the hundreds of thousands, with more workers in other Gujarat towns and in Mumbai.
Mumbai developed as the trading and export side of the business. The Bharat Diamond Bourse, a large trading complex in the city, houses many firms that buy rough and sell polished goods to the world. Surat later built its own large diamond trading complex to bring more of that trade to the city.
Technology adoption
Surat began with hand skills and simple wheels, but it took up new technology steadily from the 1990s onward. Changes that reshaped the work include:
- Computer scanning and planning systems that map the rough in three dimensions and calculate how to get the most value from each crystal.
- Laser sawing and laser kerfing, which replaced much hand cleaving and blade sawing.
- Automatic and semi-automatic polishing machines for standard round brilliants and melee.
- Cut-grading devices that measure proportions and symmetry, linked to standards used by grading labs.
These tools let Surat move beyond small stones. By the 2000s Indian firms cut many larger and higher-grade diamonds that once would have gone to Antwerp, Tel Aviv or New York. The general process is covered on the diamond cutting page.
Lab-grown diamonds in Gujarat
Surat has also become a major center for cutting and, increasingly, growing lab-grown diamonds, especially by the CVD method. The same skills and machines used on natural rough work on synthetic material. This has raised questions about disclosure, and grading labs and traders use screening devices to separate natural and synthetic stones in parcels of melee.
Strengths and pressures
The Surat model works well at scale but is sensitive to the global market. Cycles in demand, tight credit, swings in rough prices and shifts in buying from large consumer markets have caused periodic downturns, with workshops cutting hours or closing and workers returning to their villages. Working conditions and pay in small units have also drawn attention from labor groups.
For the long view of how cutting moved from Flanders to the Netherlands and then to India, see the overview of great gem cutting centers and the page on Antwerp.
Frequently asked questions
Why are most diamonds cut in India?
Indian workshops, especially in Surat, could polish small, low-priced diamonds profitably because of lower labor costs and a large trained workforce. Trading families linked these workshops to rough markets in Antwerp, and the industry grew to handle most of the world's stones by count.
Who are the Palanpuri Jains?
They are Jain families with roots in Palanpur, a town in northern Gujarat, who built a large share of the modern Indian diamond trade. Their family networks connected rough buying offices in Antwerp with cutting workshops in India.
Does Surat cut large diamonds too?
Yes. Surat started with small stones, but with modern planning and laser tools many Indian firms now cut larger and higher-grade diamonds as well.