Surat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) on Sunday in Surat. It is the world’s biggest diamond market centre.

It is aimed at shifting the entire diamond trading business out of Mumbai to Surat. Modi in his two day visit to Gujarat inaugurated the SDB and also new terminal at Surat airport. Designed with its local culture and heritage, the airport is equipped to handle 1,200 domestic passengers and 600 international passengers during peak hours.

  Modi in his address at the SDB said that one more diamond has been added to Surat’s magnificence. The tall buildings around the world have lost their sheen in front of such a huge diamond. Surat diamond industry has been giving employment to around 8 lakh people, and with the coming up of new diamond bourse, 1.5 lakh more of them will get jobs, he added.

Modi also said that the SDB shows the strength of Indian design, designers, materials and the Indian concept. It is an emblem of new India and its strength. I congratulate the entire diamond industry, Surat, and the country for the Surat Diamond Bourse.

According to a document by Delhi-based Morphogenesis, which designed the bourse, it is bigger than the biggest office space in the world, the Pentagon in the US. The SDB has been built on an area of 66 lakh square feet at DREAM (Diamond Research and Mercantile) city. Morphogenesis has also designed the BSE tower in GIFT City, Gandhinagar and the Zydus Corporate Park in Ahmedabad.

The Surat Diamond Bourse has the capacity of about 4,200 offices ranging from 300 Sq.ft to 7,500 Sq.ft each. The bourse has nine towers, each with ground plus 15 floors.

All diamond-related activities and infrastructure, such as sale of rough diamonds and polished diamonds, diamond manufacturing machineries, software used in diamond planning, diamond certificate firms, lab-grown diamonds, etc. will be available in the bourse. Apart from this, 27 retail outlets of diamond jewellery will also be opened, for international and national buyers. Over 4,000 CCTV cameras have been installed at different locations inside and outside the SDB, given the high-security product.