The diamond polishing industry in Surat has nearly ground to a halt as demand for cut and polished diamonds (CPD) has eroded over the past two quarters. With the US and a major part of Europe battling a recession due to rising inflation and the RussiaUkraine war, global diamond demand fell by a third, according to industry players. Diamantaires have been in a tizzy and are mulling over downsizing operations.
Surat is the world’s largest diamond processing hub, with 90% of the world’s diamonds processed and exported, mainly to the US and China.
According to the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), CPD exports accounted for Rs 1. 8 lakh crore in the 2021-22 fiscal year, making up a major part of the Rs 2. 91 lakh crore of gems and jewellery exports. From April to December 2022, CPD exports fell by 1. 24% to Rs 1. 32 lakh crore against Rs 1. 33 lakh crore in the corresponding period of 2021. In December 2022, however, gems and jewellery exports declined by 11. 25% to Rs 19,432 crore against Rs 21,896 crore in December 2021; CPD exports fell by 22% to Rs 10,472 crore.
“December export figures reflect the global headwinds that the industry is facing — inflation and the likelihood of a downturn in the US. Conditions in China also have an impact on demand for diamonds,” said Vipul Shah, chairman, GJEPC.
With demand for diamonds falling, Surat is reeling, and many units are looking at downsizing operations.
“As CPD exports fall, leading diamantaires have reduced working hours at their units. Most are running five days a week instead of the usual six,” said Navadiya.
“However, no layoffs are being considered at this point. No one has lost their job,” he added.
Diamond polishing units say that on the contrary, they’re facing a shortage of workers.
“We are yet to receive reports of mass layoffs in Surat,” said Damji Mavani, secretary, SuratDiamond Association (SDA).
Surat’s diamond polishing units and companies employ about 8 lakh people.
Down from historic growth rate of 2021 :
Diamond exports clocked record growth rates soon after the pandemic hit in 2021. In FY 22, CPD exports rose to Rs 1.8 lakh crore, growing by 50% from Rs 1.2 lakh crore in FY 21. Gems and jewellery exports grew by 54% from Rs 1.87 lakh crore to Rs 2.91 lakh crore.
“The growth of 2021 was historic as people abroad bought diamond jewellery as their spending dropped heavily due to lockdowns, and they were getting salaries and relief money,” said Dinesh Navadiya, member, GJEPC regional council. However, due to inflation and the slowdown in the US, and with the China market yet to open due to Covid-19, overall demand has reduced recently.
Lab-grown diamond exports surge
Meanwhile, lab-grown diamond (LGD) exports grew by 54% to Rs 10,587 crore from April to December 2022, against Rs 6,865 crore in the corresponding period of 2021. There is greater acceptance of lab-grown diamonds in the domestic market due to their prices. Jewellers are setting up dedicated showrooms for lab-grown diamonds due to increasing demand. Nishant Soni, a former secretary of the Jewellers’ Association of Ahmedabad, has set up a special showroom for lab- grown diamond jewellery.
“Demand for LGD jewellery increased by about 15% in India in 2022, and the industry believes demand will grow at 20% in 2023, as lab-grown diamonds are chemically, physically and optically identical to natural diamonds. Jewellery made from lab-grown diamonds is about 60% cheaper and labgrown solitaire diamonds are up to 70% cheaper,” Soni said.
According to him, the growing preference for lab-grown diamonds among millennials has increased demand. In Ahmedabad, four stores dealing in lab-grown diamonds have been set up and industry players believe several more will open in Gujarat. To boost consumer trust, jewellers have buy-back policies on such jewellery that is the same as for other jewellery

The Adani Group took another blow on Monday, with the stocks rout growing to $66 billion and its bonds sold as the fight with short seller Hindenburg Research escalates.
While the broad selloff continues, with Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd. down more than 20% again, there are signs of a divide. Billionaire Gautam Adani’s flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. as well as Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. rebounded following a rebuttal of Hindenburg’s fraud allegations.

“The initial reaction suggests the market is likely to reward Adani group companies with relatively better visibility of earnings and solid fundamentals such as Adani Ports, Ambuja and ACC,” according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Nitin Chanduka. “Post the sharp correction, valuations have cooled off and could offer attractive opportunities for long-term investors.”

The latest turmoil comes as Adani Enterprises seeks to complete a $2.5 billion share sale, with Hindenburg saying the 413-page refutation fails to answer most of its questions. The saga also threatens to weaken broader confidence in India, until recently a top investment destination for Wall Street, and accelerate a nascent shift toward a reopening China.

Adani Enterprises rose 6.4% to 2,937 rupees ($36) as of 9:50 a.m. in Mumbai, still below the floor price it has set for its follow-on equity sale. The company is seeking to raise Rs 200 billion by selling shares in a price band of Rs 3,112 to Rs 3,276.
“Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports are rebounding because they are the focal point for the group,” said Sameer Kalra, founder of Target Investing in Mumbai. “The main recovery in Adani stocks has to first come in these stocks as they are flagship companies.”

In its rebuttal published on Sunday, Adani said that some 65 of the 88 questions have been addressed in the conglomerate’s public disclosures, describing the short seller’s conduct as “nothing short of a calculated securities fraud under applicable law.” It reiterated it will “exercise our rights to pursue remedies to safeguard our stakeholders before all appropriate authorities.”

The lengthy response comes in the last leg of a share offer by Adani Enterprises, which received overall subscriptions of 1% for the institutional and retail portion on Friday. While investors in Indian public offerings typically wait until the last day of the sale to place bids, there were concerns that Hindenburg’s attack on the country’s richest man would sour sentiment.
In the latest twist, Hindenburg said Adani’s rebuttal ignored all its key allegations and was “obfuscated by nationalism.” The conglomerate’s statement failed to specifically answer 62 of Hindenburg’s 88 questions, the short seller said early Monday in India, and conflated the company’s “meteoric rise” and the wealth of Asia’s richest man “with the success of India itself.”

Shares of Adani group companies were trading mixed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in Monday’s intra-day trade after the group, on Sunday night, issued a detailed rebuttal to the Hindenburg Research report. In its 413-page response the Gautam Adani led group said it was shocked and deeply disturbed to read the report published by the “Madoffs of Manhattan”. It further said the report by Hindenburg Research was nothing but a lie.
At 10:15 am, Adani Enterprises was trading up 6% at Rs 2915.59. Among group stocks, Adani Total Gas, traded down 20 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade today, while Adani Green energy was down 13%. Adani Transmission was down 18.8% at Rs 1634. In the past one week, stock prices of these three companies have plunged up to 40 per cent. Meanwhile, Adani Power and Adani Wilmar were locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit on the BSE.
A scathing report by Hindenburg Research claims brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme by Adani Group led to a bloodbath at Dalal Street. Short seller Hindenburg accused Adani’s businesses of improper use of offshore tax havens and flagged concerns about high debt. The report comes ahead of the final few days of a $2.5 billion share sale by Adani Enterprises.
Adani Group issued a detailed response on Sunday, saying it complies with all local laws and had made necessary regulatory disclosures. The conglomerate said Hindenburg report, which it previously said was baseless, was intended to enable the U.S.-based short seller to book gains, without citing evidence.
While Hindenburg alleged key listed Adani companies had “substantial debt” which has put the entire group on a “precarious financial footing”, the Adani Group has repeatedly said its borrowings are manageable and no investor has raised any concern.
The report has, to date, led to Adani stocks suffering a $48 billion rout.
In response to Adani Group’s 413-page rebuttal of Hindenburg Research’s January 24 report, the US-based research firm on Monday said that the “fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism or a bloated response that ignores every key allegation”. It said that Adani group “tried to lead the focus away from substantive issues and instead stoked a nationalist narrative”.
“This is not merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India,” Adani had said. It also said that the answers to 65 of the 88 questions raised in the report are “already in public domain”.
“Of the balance 23 questions, 18 relate to public shareholders and third parties (and not the Adani portfolio companies), while the balance 5 are baseless allegations based on imaginary fact patterns,” it added.
Referring to India as a vibrant democracy and one with a bright future, Hindeburg’s response goes on to add that the country’s future is “held back by Adani Group.” It reads, “In short, the Adani Group has attempted to conflate its meteoric rise and the wealth of its Chairman, Gautam Adani, with the success of India itself. We disagree. To be clear, we believe India is a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future. We also believe India’s future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation.”
“We also believe that fraud is fraud, even when it’s perpetrated by one of the wealthiest individuals in the world,” it said.
The Hindenburg group stated that of Adani’s 413 page response only “about 30 pages focused on issues related to our report.”
“The remainder of the response consisted of 330 pages of court records, along with 53 pages of high-level financials, general information, and details on irrelevant corporate initiatives, such as how it encourages female entrepreneurship and the production of safe vegetables,” it said.
The group said its report asked 88 specific questions of the Adani Group and in its response, Adani failed to specifically answer 62 of them. “Instead, it mainly grouped questions together in categories and provided generalized deflections”
“In other instances, Adani simply pointed to its own filings and declared the questions or relevant matters settled, again failing to substantively address the issues raised,” the Hindenburg group said.
“Many of our questions were focused on both the nature of these transactions and the lack of disclosure around the clear conflicts of interest involved…In its response, Adani did not seem to dispute the existence of these transactions and made no effort to explain their obvious irregularities,” the reply said.
The US-based short seller noted that the core allegations of its report – “focused on numerous suspect transactions with offshore entities – were left completely unaddressed.”
Hindenburg said, “We asked about the source of the billions of US dollars that have flowed from Vinod Adani-Associated Offshore shell entities through the Adani Group. Adani’s defence: “We are neither aware nor required to be aware of their ‘source of funds'”
“Example #1: A U.S. ~$253 Million Loan From a Mauritius Entity Where Vinod Adani Serves As a Director” and added, “Example #2: An Investment Of U.S. $692.5 Million From A Mauritius Entity Controlled By The Head Of The Adani Group’s Private Family Investment Office”
Hindenburg said, “Our report outlined numerous irregularities and connections between suspected offshore stock parking entities and Adani promoters, raising key questions about whether promoter holdings were fully disclosed. Adani’s response claimed it simply doesn’t know who its largest public holders are.”
The US firm also said, “On Adani’s legal technicality defense: It strikes us as obvious that Vinod Adani is a related party to The Adani Group.”
Hindenburg concluded that, “Adani’s response largely confirmed our findings and Ignored Our Key Questions. Disclosure: We Are Short Adani Group Through US-Traded Bonds And Non-Indian-Traded Derivative Instruments”
In a disclaimer the Hindenburg group claimed that it held short positions in Adani Group Companies through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivatives, along with other non-Indian-traded reference securities and the report relates solely to the valuation of securities traded outside of India.
With inputs from Agencies

A passenger in an IndiGo flight connecting Nagpur with Mumbai tried to remove the cover of the emergency exit mid-air on January 24, following which a police case was registered, news agency ANI reported Sunday.
Up in the air
The passenger allegedly tried to remove the cover of the emergency exit while the aircraft was in the air and on approach for landing. However, there was no major security lapse at the time of landing. “On noticing this violation, the crew on board alerted the captain and the passenger was appropriately cautioned,” ANI quoted IndiGo saying.
Second recent case
Earlier this month, it surfaced that a passenger on a Chennai-Tiruchirappalli IndiGo flight opened the emergency door on December 10, 2022. The passenger, according to several news reports, was BJP MP Tejaswi Surya. The passenger opened the emergency door “by mistake” while onboard the IndiGo flight 6E-7339.
However, there was no untoward incident as the flight hadn’t yet taken off. While the aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks, which led to a delay in the flight’s departure, the passenger “apologised” for the inconvenience caused. No police case has yet been registered in connection with the matter.
Past cases
In May 2022, a 57-year-old United Airlines passenger was taken into custody after he opened the emergency exit of the aircraft and walked out onto the wing of the plane while it was taxiing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
In July 2017, a man tried to open the emergency door of an AirAsia flight from Delhi to Ranchi minutes before landing, endangering the lives of passengers. He also allegedly injured a few passengers and crew members when they attempted to stop him. The person was handed over to local police at Ranchi.

Shafali Verma could not hold back tears while lifting the inaugural ICC U-19 Women’s World Cup trophy in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Sunday.
When Soumya Tiwari punched Hannah Baker through covers to help India beat England by seven wickets while chasing just 69, it was the first time that an Indian women’s team has won an ICC trophy, indicating the impressive growth of women’s cricket in India.

For Shafali, already a seasoned international cricketer at 19, it brought back memories of the heartbreak in Melbourne three years ago when India took a beating at the hands of Australia in the T20World Cup final.

“The final in 2020 was a very emotional moment for me. When I joined the U-19 team, I was only thinking that we need to win this World Cup. I am going to miss this batch. They have given me a perfect birthday gift,” Shafali, who turned 19 a day before the final, told the media.

Hopefully, this triumph proves to be a catalyst to the growth of women’s cricket at the grassroots level.

“Yes, women’s cricket has reached that point where young girls will have women cricketers as role models before naming men cricketers,” Shafali responded to a query from TOI.

“BCCI has put a lot of money into women’s cricket. It’s our duty now to win more and more tournaments. Women’s cricket will grow tournament by tournament. We know we have to work hard to do that. But we have to be equally good as men’s cricket,” she added.

Shafali and Richa Ghosh, who have already played in senior World Cups, were supposed to carry this U-19 team on their shoulders. Instead, like Shafali mentioned, it was the likes of hard-hitting batter Shweta Sehrawat, leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra and medium-pacer Titas Sadhu who laid the foundation for this historic moment. Titas set the tone on Sunday by getting a wicket off the fourth ball of the match before finishing her spell with figures of 2/6. Parshavi and Archana Devi returned figures of 2/13 and 2/17 respectively.

The Indian girls were impressive in the field too, be it Gingadi Trisha’s catch diving forward to dismiss England captain Grace Scrivens at long off or Archana Devi’s stunner at extra-cover to dismiss Ryana MacDonald-Gay.

As much as this U-19 World Cup has been a stepping stone for young aspiring girls, it was a chance for the likes of Shafali and coach Nooshin Al Khadeer to settle scores. While Shafali made amends for the T20 final three years ago, Nooshin had also lost a World Cup final for India here in 2005. That was the first time an Indian women’s team had reached a World Cup final.

“I will take this confidence forward to the senior T20 World Cup here this month. I was not thinking about the senior World Cup during the U-19 World Cup. But I will be switched on when I join the senior team here on Feb 3,” Shafali claimed while asserting she is not done winning world titles.
The Neeraj Chopra effect
India’s javelin star Neeraj Chopra proved to be a big factor behind Sunday’s triumph. The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist visited the girls on the eve of the final. He also watched the game at the ground. “We all know what he has done for the country. He motivated us. He shared his experience of competing in a big final,” Shafali said.