Surat’s Diamond Bourse: Revolutionising the shine of the diamond city?
The face of Surat’s diamond trade is about change. Customised spaces, world-class offices, and infrastructure, with Surat Diamond Bourse, the city might have just landed a crowning glory for its diamond industry.
Surat has earned its shining spot on India’s map because of its diamond industry, and although the industry accounts for 90 percent of the cutting and polishing in the world, the diamond trade in Surat is largely unorganized. As we walk the streets of Mahidharpura, one of the largest diamond markets in the city, we come across a spectacular sight, people buying and bargaining for wholesale diamonds instead of vegetables on the streets. It’s wondrous to witness, but the traders here are largely dependent on the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai for marketing and business development meetings, some of whom can’t afford the rents in Mumbai, forcing them to work from the street markets lacking in security measures. Combined with the lack of space for expansion in Mumbai, the need to establish a formal diamond park in Surat has been a long-standing need.
Now no one could have ever imagined that this enduring need would be fulfilled in such a brilliant way. Surat’s diamond trade is about to get a ritzy makeover in the form of Surat Diamond Bourse. The striking structure designed by Morphogenesis, an architecture firm from Ahmedabad, is no less than an architectural marvel. Entering inside the magnificent structure feels no less than touring Google’s Silicon Valley Office. Strategically designed security systems, al-fresco dining area, carefully planned conference rooms, 131 well-placed elevators, and offices designed as per the needs of different businesses, the structure which is a 15-storey complex spread over 35 acres of land has it all.
It’s also built with sustainability in mind. As Morphogenesis says in a Mint article, the ginormous structure consumes 50% less energy than the maximum permitted, already earning a platinum rating from the Indian Green Building Council. This is in line with Surat’s systematic green urban development plans. As reported in Urban Shift, Surat gets 34% of its energy from renewable resources and is planning everything from public transport to water supplies to keep sustainability at the forefront of its development. As rapid expansion and population growth ensue, Surat is preparing itself well in advance to save its ecosystem from any negative impacts. The diamond bourse goes hand in hand with the idea.
The diamond park is a not-for-profit organisation, designed specifically to bring order and growth to the city’s diamond trade. Establishing the diamond bourse as a global diamond hub isn’t exactly a walk in the park though. Infrastructural challenges like the lack of direct international flights and 7-star hotels cloud the possibility of the bourse going international. But as the need arises, so does infrastructure. As the airport expansion is underway with a budget of 353 crore the dream to go international is already seeing its first steps being built.
The new swanky office space neither has just international implications nor a solitary impact on the diamond trade. As the diamond industry is at the heart of Surat’s work, the trade centre is likely to have a massive impact on the overall work culture of the city. Though the city has a host of businesses and is known as the diamond and textile hub of the country, managerial jobs of higher levels are largely absent from the city. The new and upcoming diamond trade offices are likely to fill that gap creating new job opportunities for the local youth and preventing brain drain from the city.
As a gentle giant rises, it lifts everyone around it. BKC, the current global diamond hub turned a wasteland into a landmark business and hangout spot. Surat Diamond Bourse is expected to do the same to the ecosystem surrounding it. As conglomerates make their way to Surat Diamond Bourse, the surrounding area is expected to grow at a rapid pace.
When BKC was erected in Bandra East it faced massive connectivity issues and businesses were reluctant to shift base there. But it promised a bigger space which most offices in South Mumbai were struggling with. As banks like ICICI, the NSE, the consulates of various countries, and especially the Bharat Diamond Bourse shifted their offices to BKC the landscape of the area changed drastically. With upscale cafes, eateries, malls, and apartment complexes, the area became the center for art, culture, and businesses to thrive. Parallelly the Surat Diamond Bourse promises large and customised offices and more space designed with contemporary needs in mind. The structure, larger than the Pentagon, would not only make Surat’s Diamond trade more organized and secure but it also has the potential to become the centre for the exchange of big ideas and eventually a space for growing corporations.
Surat might be one of the fastest-growing cities in the world with a textile industry that functions 24 hours and a diamond industry that is one of the finest centres of diamond cutting and polishing, but it is still considered a slow city due to the lack of a significant service sector. It is high time the city gets the work diversity and credit it deserves. Diamonds have helped Surat make its mark in the world, they might help Surat achieve the next big feat too. As infrastructure improves, planned recreation centres like cafes, malls, and cultural centres will also come up, giving a much-required push to the city’s art, culture, and literature scene, making room for intellectual discussions, big cultural events, and eventually growth.
The bourse has the capacity to fill in the missing piece for the city and its diamond industry and make it a mighty metropolis that reduces pressure from India’s tier 1 cities and fulfills big dreams for the local population. So as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Surat Diamond Bourse this November, he won’t be cutting the ribbon for just a diamond park but hopes and dreams for more than 7 million Surtis.