Post global slowdown scenario, Surat's diamond industry is gaining momentum in demand from the domestic, international and emerging markets like China, industry sources said today.
Recent defaults have made a section of traders contemplate moving towards promissory notes.
Diamond exporters are considering stopping the import of rough diamonds.
The impact of GST is particularly stark in the highly fragmented synthetic textile industry, which attracts different GST rates at different stages of production and sale
There are around 15 lakh diamond workers in Gujarat, including nearly seven lakh employed in units in Surat, which is the largest hub of cutting and polishing of these precious stones.
Diamond traders here are floating a company to facilitate direct procurement of rough diamonds from the mining countries.
'At the first sign of real trouble, that money will move. There will be a run.'
One thousand and five hundred diamond polishing units of Surat had got together to challenge the monopoly of multinationals by sourcing rough diamonds straight from miners.
So far, rough diamonds mined from the Panna mines in Madhya Pradesh were auctioned online but displayed only at Panna.
Contract finally given for Rs 2,400-cr project, with GIFT City-like features
While gem and jewellery exports have slowed in recent months, the escalating dollar value has put diamantaires in a problem on payments against import of rough diamonds.
Since he lives locally, Harish Patel is one of the luckier migrant workers in Surat - in that his employer was able to squeeze in a single shift for him at the weaving unit in Kamrej in Gujarat - unlike others who went home for Holi and other festivals just as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was waxing and ended up stranded in local lockdowns.
Since most banks have tightened lending to diamond merchants and others are about to do so, many medium and small diamond dealers are approaching large players for credit facility within the industry
Billionaire Gautam Adani's younger son Jeet on Friday married fiance Diva Shah at a small and intimate, traditional ceremony with a close group of friends and family in attendance.
When the lockdown was lifted last year, Rasikbhai Kotadiya, who runs a powerloom unit in the Kim-Pipodara industrial area on the outskirts of Surat, was left with only four workers out of the 48 that he used to employ to run his 128 looms. Though the economy had been unlocked, his textile unit, and that of thousands of others, struggled to resume operations. By the last week of May, nearly 700,000 of Surat's 1.2-1.5 million migrant workers, left high and dry with no pay during the lockdown, had returned home. In Laskana, another textile weaving hub in Surat, the powerlooms were all but silent, with only 2,000 of the total 55,000 looms churning out grey cloth at a snail's pace.
It is revealed that the 2G scam money has been transferred from Chennai to Dubai and Hongkong via Surat.
'There are 8-12 members living in the same accommodation. While in pre-lockdown days, since most were out on work, social tension among them was less because of limited interaction. But now, no food and livelihood, along with having to live in cramped conditions, is taking a toll on their mental health.'
Trading of diamonds especially with a gulf country has come under the lens of intelligence agencies here for suspected terror financing and money laundering.
Surat had bagged the fourth rank under the Smart Cities Mission based on its proposal.
While guests who had arrived earlier are leaving one by one, sources revealed that the hotel, situated on Dumas Road of the diamond city, has stopped accepting new bookings for an indefinite period.
Blocked working capital worth Rs 1,500 crore, in the almost-defunct job work diamond polishing units, is expected to be released even as diamantaires will issue fresh orders to such units following the GST relief.
'We don't trade with any business where we have specific concerns,' a De Beers spokesperson said.
Two deep cut marks were found on his neck and the stabbing was centred between jaws and chest.
Tinesh Bhasin explains the tax liabilities that accompany receiving a gift.
Primary interrogation of the accused revealed that they had committed the crime "in retribution to the purported statements by Tiwari", an ATS release said.
The MLAs, who are seemingly unhappy with their leadership, arrived in Surat on Monday night and are camping at the Le Meridian Hotel, they said.
Days after he became famous after pictures of him with Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi were released, the Enforcement Directorate has filed a fresh First Information Report against Afroz Fatta, who was arrested last month in Surat in connection with an alleged hawala racket to the tune of Rs 700 crore, on money laundering charges.
The government has raised about Rs 8.33 crore from the three-day auction of the items gifted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the money will be used to finance the Clean Ganga Mission, official sources said on Friday.
Migrant workers are leaving Gujarat, PM Modi's home state, as they have no work.
Workers who had gone to their hometowns and did not return for work after Diwali vacation owing to the demonetisation impact have now started trickling back to the industrial hubs in Gujarat, say Vimukt Dave & Sohini Das.
The agency has so far seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,716 crore in the case and summoned Modi and Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 at its Mubai zonal office.
The period of assessment of these defaulters range from 1989-90 to 2013-14.
The Income Tax Department on Tuesday also raided 20 premises linked to Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi and suspected shell firms in connection with an alleged tax evasion case against them, official sources said.
Taking exception to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan not mentioning the death of healthcare workers due to Covid-19 in his statement in Parliament, the Indian Medical Association has published a list of 382 doctors who died due to the viral disease and demanded that they be treated as "martyrs".
Despite the rating agency CARE withdrawing the ratings assigned to the bank facilities of FIPL "with immediate effect" following the receipt of a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the banks, Modi's company received uninterrupted letters of undertaking (LoUs) from PNB, which were honoured by other banks until a few weeks ago.
Move comes after agencies unearth several cases of misuse of the 80:20 scheme.
Political observers say that except for a strong anti-incumbency sentiment, there is little that might go against the BJP.
The cases reported on Wednesday include a couple and their two-year-old daughter in Rajasthan who had recently returned from Italy. The patients belong to Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu and had returned from Italy on March 8.
From farmers to cement, steel, logistics, transportation and automobiles, the back-end is struggling to get going due to the liquidity crisis.
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.
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