NEW DELHI: The prospect of fresh G7 sanctions on Russia’s diamond trade weighs heavy on India’s diamond hub of Surat, already reeling from supply cuts and falling demand. Some 90 percent of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished in the bustling port.

A world away from the glamorous boutiques of New York or Tokyo, hundreds of thousands of craftsmen sweat over gemstones in around 4,000 workshops in the city, cutting and setting them into sparkling jewellery.

In total around a million people, including dealers and suppliers, are involved in the industry in Gujarat, India’s western-most state.

Russian mining giants such as Alrosa traditionally accounted for over a third of India’s rough diamonds.

But supplies have shrunk in the months since Western sanctions cut Russia off from the SWIFT international payments network in March last year over its invasion of Ukraine.

Leaders of the G7 countries meeting in Hiroshima in Japan on Friday pledged to restrict trade in Russian diamonds — worth $4-5 billion a year — including using high-tech methods of tracing.

Britain went further and announced it would introduce an outright ban on Russian diamonds.

Rameshbhai Zilriya, president of the Diamond Workers Union Gujarat, said fresh sanctions would sound the death knell for the industry.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2023