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Vashi2Panvel.Com: Navi Mumbai: August 17: The floods in Gujarat have had a serious repercussion on the businesses here. Many businesses are inter-related and require raw materials or finishing work to be done in another state. Due to delays in consignments, city businesspersons have suffered heavy losses. One of the worst hit industries is Mumbai’s diamond trade. City traders send uncut stones to Surat for polishing. Though Mumbai boasts of diamond trading offices, Surat is the destination for cutting diamonds. Contrary to the alleged reports the retail trading of Diamond in the satellite city has not seen a low curve so far. The sales managers help us catch along the sales graph of this ‘woman’s gem’

The active business hub has, in the past few days has suffered a prolonged power outage. Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association observes that the diamond industry in Mumbai and Surat has suffered a loss of Rs 10,000 crore. Besides exports, this also includes the diamond trading within the country and outsourcing to various branded diamond jewellery companies. Though these branded diamond jewellery companies also depend on workshops in Surat for their polishing work this has not affected their retail sales considerably.

“The floods have had a huge impact. Since factories are submerged in Surat, no products can enter the market,” said Dhaval Shah, a diamond merchant. However the branded diamond sellers like Adora, Just in Vogue, Nirvana etc. are not much affected with this at a ground level. “We agree that diamond is polished in Surat but we also have our manufacturing unit in Mumbai to deal with such crisis situations,” says Mahesh Mahabali, Asst Manager, Sales, Adora Diamond Jewellery Limited. “The retail trade which we do in the city has not been affected as such because the stock of the finished goods is always there to deal with such a situation,” he explains.

Other branded jewellery retail outlets in the city also affirmed the above views. “The diamond industry as such may be facing problems but the retail selling has not been influenced by it till now,” says Suneel Talwar, Sales Manager, Just in Vogue. “Our manufacturing unit at Mumbai has a good stock with it to handle the situation. We also get these diamonds polished from Surat but our sales have not been affected as yet”, he explicates. Nirvana, endorsed by the dusky Malaika Arora Khan also doesn’t feel any losses. “The Surat floods may have influenced the trade in a broader way but it has not affected the sales in retail,” says Rohan Kumar, Nirvana.

Smriti Mishra