a day ago
Carats 2025: Surat Diamond Association organises diamond expo
Amid a slowdown in the diamond industry, buyers from different parts of India, the USA, Ukraine, Russia, and Dubai have been attending Carats 2025, an exhibition of loose polished diamonds and jewellery, organised by the Surat Diamond Association (SDA) at Avadh Uthopia in Surat.
At the inauguration event on Friday, Mayor Daxesh Mavani said that Surat should now organise shopping festivals, similar to Dubai's, that will give a new identity to the city. The three-day exhibition will culminate on Sunday.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Mavani in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP and diamond merchant Govind Dholakia and several other top players from the diamond and jewellery industries of Surat and Mumbai.
In his inaugural speech, Mayor Mavani said, 'Dubai regularly organises shopping festivals. A similar festival should also be organised in Surat, where diamond, jewellery, textile and other industries can participate and that would attract buyers from India and abroad. The Surat Municipal Corporation and The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry can also be involved. This will give a new identity to Surat city.'
MP Dholakia said, 'The industry is passing through a bad phase. Such an exhibition will give a boost to the industry. The volume and area of such exhibitions should be increased, and more and more people should participate.'
Over 73 exhibitors, mainly from Surat and Mumbai, have booked stalls to put on display loose and polished natural, lab-grown diamonds (LGD), diamond-studded jewellery, allied machinery tools used in the diamond industry and diamond grading firms. The main attraction of the exhibition is two lab-grown diamonds, which are sold in pairs and weigh 38 carats each. Buyers from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Kerala, Chennai, and Cochin attended the event on Saturday.
Surat Diamond Association president Jagdish Khunt said, 'A footfall of over 300 had been recorded on a single day. Over 30 foreign buyers had come down from the USA, Ukraine, Russia, Dubai, and visited the exhibition. Buyers from eight different states had come and made business deals with the exhibitors. We are getting an overwhelming response.'
He further said: 'Last year, there were over 105 exhibitors — and 45 of them had diamond machinery allied tools. Following demands and suggestions from diamond businessmen, we have reduced the number of machinery exhibitors. This year, there are 73 stalls — 12 have machinery, 10 stalls have jewellery, and the remaining have loose polished diamonds of natural and LGD. Last year, the business done by exhibitors stood between Rs 70 crore and Rs 75 crore. This year, we expect the business to grow and stand around Rs 90-100 crore.'
