Nov. 3 – An increasingly affluent China is good news for India’s gem polishing industry, the world’s largest. Demand for polished diamonds has taken off in China, and the result has been a 9 percent increase in sales of the gem to the mainland, and 11 percent to Hong Kong.

This comes as exports to the United States have dropped by 30 percent. The Indian diamond cutting and polishing industry is centered in Surat, the eighth largest city in India, lying north of Mumbai on the Arabian Sea. As much as 92 percent of all the world’s diamonds are cut and polished here, with an export market worth about US$20 billion annually.