Bharat Diamond Bourse

Bharat Diamond Bourse
Type Diamond Exchange
Location Mumbai, India
Founded2010
Key peopleAnoop Mehta (President)[1]
CurrencyINR INR
CommoditiesPrecious Metals
Websitebdbindia.org

Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) is world's largest diamond bourse (exchange) located in Mumbai, India.[2] Spread over 20 acre plot, the Complex is designed to house around 2,500 small and large diamond traders in addition to Custom House, banks and other service providers who cater to the gem and jewellery trade.[3] There are 8 towers having 9 floors each. The total constructed area is 2,000,000 sq ft (190,000 m2). with two basements of additional 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2). The facilities at BDB include offices of diamond traders, four walk-in vaults, 24,500 safe deposit boxes,[4] a 6,200-square-foot (580 m2) trading floor, strong rooms, lockers, customs clearance facilities with all the modern facilities required to carry day-to-day business.

It is located in G Block of Bandra Kurla Complex, between the Mumbai suburbs' of Bandra and Kurla.[5] It is expected to have inflow of more than 20,000-30,000 people daily.[6][7] BDB handles 60% of diamond exports from India.

History

In 1984, The project was started by a group of Mumbai based diamond traders. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority given 20 acre for 80 years lease. The project initially involved public sector Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation. It withdrew from the project later and BDB took it over from there. Then it was restarted in 1992. But disputes between the BDB committee, its architects and contractors and payment defaults by members during the 1995-99 property slump put the project on hold in 1998. It was restarted in 2001. The construction cost of an estimated INR11 billion (US$170 million) was collected from members.[6][8]

India Diamond Industry

India’s diamond industry, which is estimated to grow by an average 10 to 15 percent each year in the next five years, accounts for 70-75 percent of total diamond exports in world and employs 850,000 people, making it the largest cutting hub by value and number of employees. Last year, the country’s import of rough diamonds rose 24.5 percent to 149.8 million carats against a year earlier, and export of cut and polished diamonds witnessed a surge of 28.3 percent to 59.9 million carat. The current market is located at operahouse and Prasad Chambers (Charni Road). The majority of the people engaged in this trade belong to the Gujarati Jain from Banaskantha and Kathiyawadi people from Saurashtra. The place where diamond market is located is declared as non-veg free zone[9]

The main cutting and polishing of diamonds occur in the city of Surat, which is also known as 'diamond city'. The cutting and polishing units in Surat varies from large firms employing several thousands of diamond cutting and polishing workers to very small informal enterprises having a few workers. The larger diamond Cutting and Polishing of Diamonds (CPD) units have relatively better work and employment conditions and even provide for elaborate benefits. Most of the CPDs are owned by Kathiawadis, who were originally farmers from Northern Gujarat region. The whole diamond cutting and polishing industry is largely community oriented, where most of the owners and workers are Kathiawadis. [10] In the recession of 2008, while many of the small and medium size diamond CPDs were closed down with lay-off of workers, there were still some big CPD enterprises, who managed to retain their workforce. This was primarily because of paternalistic approach of owner, where they consider workers as extended family members [11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bharat Diamond Bourse sees turnover rising 10-15% - Money - DNA". Dnaindia.com. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  2. ↑ "Bharat Diamond Inaugurates 'World's largest Diamond Bourse'". Indiainfoline.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  3. ↑ Prachi Rege. "Bharat Diamond Bourse to open doors after 18 years: Business : India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  4. ↑ Chang, Arlene (18 October 2010). "Mumbai’s New Diamond Market Opens at Last - India Real Time - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  5. ↑ "Bharat Diamond Bourse | Explore". Bdbindia.org. Archived from the original on 11 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Mumbai will have world's largest diamond market". Sify.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  7. ↑ Special Correspondent (15 October 2010). "Business / Markets : Bharat Diamond Bourse to open on October 17". Chennai, India: The Hindu. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  8. ↑ "Bharat Diamond Bourse getting ready to sparkle". Financialexpress.com. 4 July 2008. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  9. ↑ Walid Mazi. "World’s largest diamond bourse opens in India". Arab News. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  10. ↑ Diamond and Patels http://cis.sagepub.com/content/33/1-2/353.abstract
  11. ↑ Biju Varkkey, Randhir Kumar, (2013) "Keeping the sparkle on: Workforce retention in Indian diamond cutting and polishing firms during economic recession", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 21 Iss: 3, pp.454 - 470 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJOA-04-2013-0657

External links