Surat Diamond Bourse forms new management committee in a bid to resolve daily challenges

core committee members and the appointments were made by Dholakia, officials added, as the core committee held a meeting on Wednesday.

Earlier in January, Sakariya had quit as the SDB chairman, citing his old age.  Last week, Vallabhbhai Lakhani, his successor, also quit from the post with the SDB witnessing its second big exit in two months. Dholakia was then appointed to the top post.

Meanwhile, the management committee will focus on getting diamond merchants from Surat and Mumbai to start their offices at SDB, said people in the know.

On the constitution, SDB vice-chairman Laljibhai Patel said, “The reality of the diamond industry is that it is equally dominated by Patidars and Jains. The Patidar dominate 70 per cent of diamond manufacturing activities, while the folks of the Jain community dominate 70 per cent of the diamond trading business. This time, we have decided to ensure a balance in the management committee. For that, we have inducted two Jain diamond traders. In the coming days, the management committee will be expanded and new members will be inducted.  They will be equally from Jain and Patidar communities.”

He added, “As per the planning, the management committee members will carry out meetings with the diamond merchants who had purchased offices in SDB in Surat as well as Mumbai and tell them to start their offices at the earliest. Arvindbhai Shah of Dhanera Diamonds is a big name in the diamond industry and he has his business establishment in Mumbai and Surat. We are hopeful that in May, over 500 offices in Surat will be opened and we are working in that direction.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the SDB complex in Surat, labelled as the world’s biggest office space, in December. Amid multiple challenges, however, only 135 of the 4,000 offices in the complex have been occupied so far. The leadership is working to address the challenges.