Surat: Diamonds and Textiles

How Surat became the world's diamond-cutting capital, its rapid growth, and how lab-grown diamonds and global demand are reshaping it.

Surat in Gujarat cuts and polishes around 90 percent of the world’s diamonds by volume.

How it happened

Gujarati diamond traders, many from Palanpur, built networks with Antwerp.
Cheap skilled labour, much of it migrants from Saurashtra.
Small diamonds: Surat specialised in cutting smaller stones that were too costly to cut elsewhere.

Growth

Surat has been one of India’s fastest-growing cities for decades, also thanks to synthetic textiles.

Surat Diamond Bourse

The Surat Diamond Bourse, opened in 2023, is one of the world’s largest office buildings, aiming to bring trading from Mumbai to Surat.

Disruption

Lab-grown diamonds: much cheaper, eroding natural diamond prices.
Weak global demand, especially from China and the US.
Sanctions on Russian diamonds.
US tariffs in 2025 on Indian goods hurt exports.
Many diamond workers faced job losses and wage cuts in 2023-25.

Adapting

Surat has become a major hub for lab-grown diamond production too.

The polisher

A diamond polisher in Surat who once earned well finds his work reduced as natural diamond demand falls. He considers training for lab-grown diamond work.

Thinking diamond polishing happens mainly in Europe

Surat cuts and polishes around 90 percent of the world's diamonds.

Key takeaways

Surat polishes around 90 percent of the world's diamonds.
Trader networks, migrant labour and small stones built the industry.
Lab-grown diamonds, weak demand and tariffs disrupted it.
Surat is also adapting to lab-grown production.