Nearly 10 lakh diamond workers in Surat may lose jobs due to sanctions on Russia

As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, NATO and most countries globally condemned the move, while European nations decided to endure an energy crisis to resist Putin's advance. But even as Russia was slapped with sanctions, India continued to buy oil from the country, and Indian refiners benefited from the policy by buying Russian crude on discount and selling diesel extracted from it to European countries.

But trade with Russia may cost one sector dearly, as sanctions against diamonds from the country could leave more than a million workers in India jobless.

Diamond city shadowed by global slowdown

In India's diamond hub of Surat, a bulk of the gems to be polished are sourced from Russia's Alrosa, since it supplies 30 per cent of the world's rough diamonds.

More than 90 per cent of the world's diamonds are polished in Surat, and the sanctions on Russian gemstones could severely hit the supply chain.

This along with a slowdown in global demand due to the recession will deal a double whammy for the city's diamond units, leaving the future of one million workers hanging in the balance.

Reminder of a dark past?

Earlier this year, a 21 per cent drop in production had already robbed 10,000 workers in Surat's diamond units of their jobs.

In 2009, the slowdown in demand after the economic crash of 2008, had left lakhs of diamond unit workers jobless, and triggered a spate of suicides.

The current recession threatening the globe, as well as geopolitical tensions could cast a pall of gloom over the sparkling city of diamonds once again.