AHMEDABAD: Gujarat's Surat city, glittering with diamonds and textiles, is staring at a storm. With US President Donald Trump’s 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods kicking in, the city's lifeline industries, diamonds and textiles, face unprecedented disruption.
Exports worth billions have stalled, artisans fear mass unemployment, and desperation is already pushing some former workers into crime. The crisis has snowballed from factories to families, threatening not just trade but the city’s social fabric. Surat's sparkle dims as a new tariff wall rises in the US, slashing demand for diamonds and textiles overnight.
What was once a steady flow of large orders has dried up, leaving traders anxious and artisans vulnerable. Jayanti Savaliya, regional president of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), warned that the new pricing will drive American buyers away. "New orders have stopped completely. With our products becoming 50 per cent costlier in the US, customers will simply stay away," he said. His warning cuts deeper for Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which thrive solely on direct exports. Without intervention, thousands of artisans could soon be jobless, pushing the council to demand government support and marketing funds.
The textile industry, too, finds itself caught in the same storm. Ashok Jirawala, chairman of the Federation of Weavers Association, admitted the tariff hits not only Surat but also Tirupur - India's garment hub. "Prices of garments, curtains, bedsheets and yarn will rise by 50 per cent. Competing in the US market will now be impossible,” he said, urging exporters to scout for alternative markets.
The blow comes on an already weak pulse. Surat’s diamond industry has been in recession for months, forcing the Gujarat government earlier to offer fee-support packages for artisans' children. Now, with exports frozen $4.8 billion worth of gems and jewellery to the US, the fallout is massive. Out of 8 to 9 lakh workers in Surat and almost half of Gujarat's 15 lakh diamond artisans, 40 per cent are likely to face job losses.
The human cost is surfacing fast. In a shocking twist, a former diamond worker, 50-year-old Bheraram Bishnoi, was caught in Surat's Varachha area selling opium worth Rs 53,400. Police revealed he had turned to crime after losing his diamond business job, a stark example of how economic despair is already breeding social cracks.
Even factories are showing cracks. A Katargam-based diamond firm that catered to foreign traders, abruptly laid off 100 workers this week, its decision directly linked to the tariff shock. Workers protested, and after tense negotiations led by the Diamond Worker Union, the company agreed to reinstate them. Bhavesh Tank, the union’s vice president, confirmed, “All jewelers will resume work from tomorrow, with lost days adjusted.”