Diamonds of almost jewelery quality were still cut mainly in India

As for diamonds, India has the longest history. It was in India that diamonds were first discovered. Long-ago findings turned India immediately into the consumer market for diamonds, where the maharajas and other nobles wore the world's first diamond jewelry.

History of ancient times

It is not known exactly when the diamonds were first discovered along the riverbeds and streams on the Indian peninsula, but there are references to diamonds dating back to the fourth century BC, when Alexander the Great conquered India.

India with its rich history of international trade already at that time was a diamond country. The country, which began to produce diamonds long ago and was a trading center, became the world leader in the production of diamonds and an important consumer market.

So far, the Golconda diamonds mined in the central Indian region of Golconda are among the most sought after in the world. Some of the most famous diamonds, including Hope, Koh-I-Noor, Darya-I-Nur, Orlov and Sanc, are diamonds from Golconda.

As trade developed between India and Europe, diamonds paved their way into the royal courts of Europe, and by the 1400s diamond jewelry became popular, and diamonds were also used to decorate clothing.

The high demand for Indian diamonds caused the depletion of the country's diamond resources by the late 1700s or early 1800s.

The twentieth century - the organization of the industry

In the 1960s, Indian diamond cutters decided to formally establish a diamond and diamond industry in their country. A group of traders with semi-precious stones, cutters and jewelry manufacturers, mainly from the Indian state of Gujarat, began to engage in a new gem and sought to get out of their rural poverty.

They attracted the attention of De Beers, and began courting the giant of the industry in order to obtain sustainable supplies of diamonds. Although De Beers initially allocated only a small percentage of its goods to the Indian market, it decided to increase the supply by reclassifying technical diamonds that were on the verge of diamond-quality diamonds to diamonds of "almost jewelery quality", and then supplied them to the Indians in large quantities. The first site was allotted to a consortium called the Indian Diamond Export Corporation.

At first they worked with diamonds of poor quality and purity intended for the US market. The low prices for these diamonds required a very low-paid workforce, something that the Belgian and Israeli polished diamond production centers could not provide.

The Indian industry was mainly engaged in cutting and polishing small diamonds weighing 0.20 carats and less. Some of the small diamonds passed only a partial faceting and polishing, resulting in what is known as "Akht Kant" - from the Dutch "eight faces" by the number of polished faces.

We started small. In 1966, polished exports from India reached just $ 17 million. But this modest start with a long road ahead laid the groundwork for a new global diamond center.

New era for diamonds

An important leap of India in the modern era and the beginning of a new chapter in the diamond saga of the country followed after the discovery of diamonds, this time in Australia. In 1985, large diamond deposits were discovered in western Australia, and Indian granulators were best equipped to cut and polish these diamonds, which were mostly of a low color and purity category.

There were huge quantities of diamonds, for which larger shops were needed. These shops, with the help of growing financing provided by local banks, quickly turned into large factories. This major transformation included the transition from large traditional polishing circles called "Ghantis" to the use of modern tools and equipment instead.

Along with raising awareness of how to get the highest cost for small mele diamonds and the smallest and cheapest diamonds, the growing industry has formed a new understanding of how to cut larger and more expensive stones. It quickly turned into a leading diamond-diamond center, using the best available technology.

Over time, these efforts have turned the city of Surat into the world's largest diamond production center, contributing significantly to the development of the local economy. Local factories are among the largest and most modern in the world and have a highly skilled workforce, the number of which reaches almost one million during peak periods.

Although Surat became the center of cutting and polishing, in Mumbai (the financial capital of India) there was a flourishing of the headquarters and shopping centers of these companies in the area of the Opera Theater in the southern part of the city. The expansion was not limited to India. The families of Mumbai, engaged in diamonds and diamonds, opened offices in Antwerp and expanded the geography of their activities around the world. The Antwerp offices of these Indian companies ensured that a steady flow of diamonds, mostly traded in Antwerp and delivered to Antwerp, found its way to India and to the Surat granulating and polishing factories.

Expanding the geography of activities around the world

In the recent past, many Indian companies have expanded their operations to the developing diamond center in Dubai, which has become the center for the trade of diamonds coming from Africa.

The third center, located also in Mumbai, has become a free SEEPZ zone. In this zone there are diamond production facilities, but mainly this is the place of production of jewelry. All stones coming here for the production of diamonds are for export. The combination of large volumes of diamond imports, the continuous improvement of skills in cutting and polishing, the availability of financing and a local supply chain from diamonds to the production of jewelry, has turned India into a global diamond power, which it is now.

By the 1990s and early 2000s diamonds of almost jewelery quality were still cut mainly in India. But the center has long been able to work with any kind of product, and it offers buyers a wide choice of almost all diamonds of any color / purity / size and the creation of combinations - and in large quantities. In recent decades, India has deprived Israel of the throne of the world's largest exporter of diamonds.

In the early 1990s, the Indian economy turned to face a policy of freer market relations, which led to the growth of a new middle class, which began buying diamond jewelry along with traditional gold jewelry. This sharp increase in the Indian diamond industry has provided it with a new and growing consumer base, which has benefited from the strengthening. De Beers decided to include the Indian consumer market in its species marketing campaign, and to launch a jewelry line, so the Indian diamond industry received an important additional source of income - its own local community.

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