A port city, Surat, is situated in the state of Gujarat, about 250 km north of Bombay. The River Tapti runs by the city.Like Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh, Surat can be divided into two parts; the old city and the new city. The two parts are divided by a moat (a wide ditch usually filled with water). Like old Dhaka, this old part contains narrow streets.
Surat remained as an important port city and business center for a long time. In the seventeenth century, the British East India Company took it away from the Portuguese and established their factory. Till the seat of Presidency was shifted to Bombay, Surat had been a flourishing business center. At that time, there were various mills including cotton mills, paper mills, ship building, and rice cleaning mills.
The present day Surat is one of the fastest growing cities of India. It is also the second cleanest city. The biggest and major money making industry in Surat today, is the diamond cutting and polishing industry. In 2005, 92% of the total diamonds in the world were cut and polished in Surat and the industry earned $8 billion. The diamond cutting industry was established here in 1901. According to the local legend, a Surat entrepreneur brought some diamond cutters to this city by boat from East Africa and set up the first polishing industry. Business started to flourish in the 1970’s when diamond polishers started to come to Surat from Mumbai. In the beginning, diamond cutters used to cut and polish lower quality stones but now the polishers are targeting bigger and pricier stones which till now, were cut in foreign countries like Tel Aviv, Antwerp. This sudden rise of India has caused some dissatisfaction among countries like Belgium and Israel. They are afraid that due to cheap labor costs, in near future, the price of diamonds will drop.
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