The opening of the largest diamond exchange in the world.. tomorrow, Sunday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the newly-built Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) building, part of the Diamond Research and Mercantile (DREAM) City, in Gujarat on December 17, its office-bearer . The PM will also inaugurate the newly-upgraded terminal building of the Surat airport on his arrival there the same day, officials said.

The SDB building, the world's largest office complex with over 67 lakh square feet of floor area, is located at Khajod village near Surat city. Ahead of the inauguration, several diamond traders, including those based in Mumbai earlier, have already taken possession of their offices, which were allotted by the management after auction, SDB's media convener Dinesh Navadiya said in the statement.

Former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel had in February 2015 performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the SDB and DREAM City project. With 67 lakh square feet of floor space, the SDB is now the world's largest office building having nearly 4,500 diamond trading offices, the release said. The mega structure, built on a plot of 35.54 acres inside the DREAM City, has nine towers of ground pl

In a related context, India expects little disruption to its diamond industry from an incoming ban by G7 countries on Russian gems, a trade ministry official said, because the country mostly processes smaller Russian diamonds which will be less affected by the new restrictions.

India is home to 90% of the world's diamond cutting and polishing industry, including for some Russian diamonds.

Last week, G7 nations announced a direct ban on Russian diamonds starting Jan. 1 followed by phased-in restrictions on indirect imports of Russian gems from around March 1.

Starting March 1, Russian diamonds sized a carat or above will face restrictions in G7 countries, while diamonds sized half a carat or more will be banned in September 2024, and a new system to trace origin will be introduced, Vipul Bansal, an official at India’s federal trade ministry, told reporters.

"The key point here is that most of the Russian diamonds we cut and polish essentially are less than 0.5 carats," Bansal said, adding the impact of the ban will be "lesser than anticipated."

Bansal said this rule of carat size will only apply to polished diamonds, and the size for rough diamonds under the new regulations could be larger.

Russia is the world's biggest producer of rough diamonds by volume with a 30% share of the market. The G7 is introducing new trade restrictions to limit Moscow's revenues that help fund its invasion of Ukraine.

Implementing a ban on Russian diamonds, however, depends heavily on India, which wants to minimise potential disruptions for small diamond firms employing millions of people.