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'Diamond industry is much bigger than Bharat Shah'

For a long time now, the shadow of diamond king and film financer Bharat Shah is looming large over the entire diamond, gems and jewellery industry.

Despite the flak that the industry has been receiving from the media and the general public, traders exude optimism.

The general feeling is that the entire industry is being maligned by the allegations levelled against only one of its members.

''The diamond industry is much bigger than Shah. The allegations, yet to be proved against him, are unlikely to affect the industry," says Sanjay Kothari, Chairman, Gems and Jewellery Promotion Council.

Shah, who is still in police custody, was arrested by the Bombay police on January 8 under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. He was arrested on charges of an alleged nexus with the underworld.

His arrest gave a major setback to the diamond industry, stock market as well as the Hindi film industry, owing to his huge investments and financial association with operators in these markets.

Kothari also ruled out intervention by the GJPC at any level to withdraw the ongoing legal action against Shah. ''There is no question of our intervening into the matter when it is subjudice,'' says Kothari.

The industry's performance in the last year was excellent as India's diamonds exports crossed $6 billion to $6.65 billion, as against $5.03 billion recorded in the corresponding period a year ago.

Performance during the last 10 months was also encouraging, Kothari said, adding that he is confident of maintaining the trend this year too.

According to GJPC, out of the total 7000 registered exporters including gems, jewellery and diamonds, over 4000 are located in Bombay, thus offering employment to over thousands of people.

Leading diamond exporter, Mehul Shah came out heavily on public for making the whole industry as target for one individual case of diamond exporter. ''Bharatbhai's arrest is an individual case and entire indusry should not be looked at in a suspicous manner," he said.

Shah said that if the present controversy succeeded in tarnishing the image of industry, it won't take long before the exporters start moving to China, which is now set to compete with India in the gems and jewellery trade.

Another diamond exporter, Anand Pandit, ruled out any impact of the Shah episode on the diamond industry. Pandit, however, expressed surprise over the cold response from film industry to his arrest.

He said that the diamond industry observed a day long bandh to express solidarity after Shah's arrest, but the film industry did not even react over the issue so far.

According to Hardik Hundia, editor of Hira Manek -- a Gujarati weekly that highlights the issues of the diamond industry: "The industry as well as the trade has suffered a major setback by the arrest of Shah who had achieved an export of over Rs 5 billion last year".

Hundia, who had close associations with various diamonds traders and exporters, feels that Shah may win the legal battle and come out with a clean image.

UNI

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