giant new diamond trading center opens in mumbai - from the pic it looks a block long and wide.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010 ... s-at-last/
Mumbai’s New Diamond Market Opens at Last
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By Arlene Chang
The much awaited opening of Mumbai’s new diamond trading hub, the Bharat Diamond Bourse, finally happened Sunday.
Diamond traders are hoping the blessing of the Goddess Durga that comes from opening on Dusshera will help the market operate without the kind of glitches that put off the completion of the exchange for close to two decades.
“Dusshera is an auspicious time and we all agreed it would be a good day to inaugurate the bourse,” said Anoop Mehta, president of the Bharat Diamond Bourse.
Building the $250 million trading hub took 18 years and twice the amount of money expected after repeated delays due to everything from structural modifications to battles between leading diamond merchants to flooding from torrential rains.
The new exchange will shift the center of diamond trading from the old Opera House neighborhood of south Bombay to the booming suburb of Bandra. Mr. Mehta said the exchange – which has 2,500 offices, four walk-in vaults, 24,500 safe deposit boxes and a 6,200 square foot trading floor set on a 20-acre plot - is the world’s largest.
He said close to $18 billion worth of diamonds were exported from India during the last fiscal year and he is hoping that the new trading hub will bring more international diamond traders to India’s financial capital.
“We haven’t had foreigners coming here for trading and manufacturing of their diamonds because we just didn’t have infrastructure that was at par with Israel or Antwerp,” Mr. Mehta said. “Now that we have the facilities, I am certain that more diamond traders will be encouraged to set up offices in India.”
Last week at a mining conference, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jyotiraditya Scindia said gem and jewelry exports make up 16% of the country’s total merchandise shipments. At the same conference, Mr. Scindia said that the sector had exports worth $29 billion in the last fiscal year.