Heads of Leading Indian Firms Create Surat Bourse Panel

(IDEX Online News) – Leading Indian diamantaires from some of the world's largest diamond cutting and polishing firms have formed a 30-member committee to establish a Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB).

The campaign has gained momentum after a group of Mumbai-based diamantaires said they were ready to move their trading offices from Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) to Surat, The Times of India reported.

The committee includes Govind Dholakiya, Chairman of Shree Ramkrishna Export; S P Shah, Chairman of Venus Jewels; Lalji Patel, Chairman of Dharmanandan Diamonds; Savji Dholakiya, Chairman of Harekrishna Exports; Chandrakant Sanghavi, Chairman of Sanghavi Exports; Kishore Virani, Chairman of KARP Impex; Vasant Gajera, Chairman of Laxmi Diamonds; and Dilip Mehta, Chairman of Star Rays, among others, the newspaper reported.

The committee members plan to meet newly elected prime minister Narendra Modi after he forms his government to press for the demand for an international airport at Surat and represent other issues like lifting of regulations on imports of rough diamonds.

Surat Diamond Association (SDA) President Dinesh Navadia, who is also in the 30-member committee, told the newspaper, "The landslide victory of NDA under the leadership of Narendra Modi has given lot of hope to diamantaires. Things have started moving fast in the direction of developing a diamond bourse in Surat. The committee is soon going to announce purchase of of land in the city."