Interviews
Diamond sector bets big on textile embroidery
19 Jul '10
2 min read
The two diamond polishing centres in Gujarat, Surat and Ahmedabad have one thing in common. Following the economic downtrend which unfurled in mid-2008, the diamond factories in Surat started shutting down, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers jobless.
However, the loss of the diamond sector was a gain for the textile sector in Surat, which is also considered to be one of the biggest textile hubs in the country. Most of the workers and entrepreneurs from the diamond sector moved in to the embroidery industry.
Following in the footsteps of their Surat counterparts, the diamond factory owners and workers of Ahmedabad too started shifting to the embroidery sector. Bapunagar area, in Ahmedabad, which is a diamond processing hub of the city, has now numerous computer embroidery units dotting in its vicinity.
Ms Panchami Mistry, Associate Professor at the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat and who has also done her Fashion Design Diploma course in the 95-98 batch from the same institute spoke to fibre2fashion on the subject.
She said, “When recession the hit diamond industry in 2008, people were jobless and had a hard time running their family. As there was no choice, a lot of people migrated to their homeland, a few also committed suicides, while many struggled to new hopes and options for their livelihood.
“Many of the diamond factory owners set up computer embroidery units, which also helped unemployed diamond workers to earn a living by working in these units. Approximately, 75-80 percent people in the diamond industry invested in computerized embroidery machines and started new embroidery business and in the process created lot of job opportunities for everybody”, she concluded by saying.
However, the loss of the diamond sector was a gain for the textile sector in Surat, which is also considered to be one of the biggest textile hubs in the country. Most of the workers and entrepreneurs from the diamond sector moved in to the embroidery industry.
Following in the footsteps of their Surat counterparts, the diamond factory owners and workers of Ahmedabad too started shifting to the embroidery sector. Bapunagar area, in Ahmedabad, which is a diamond processing hub of the city, has now numerous computer embroidery units dotting in its vicinity.
Ms Panchami Mistry, Associate Professor at the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat and who has also done her Fashion Design Diploma course in the 95-98 batch from the same institute spoke to fibre2fashion on the subject.
She said, “When recession the hit diamond industry in 2008, people were jobless and had a hard time running their family. As there was no choice, a lot of people migrated to their homeland, a few also committed suicides, while many struggled to new hopes and options for their livelihood.
“Many of the diamond factory owners set up computer embroidery units, which also helped unemployed diamond workers to earn a living by working in these units. Approximately, 75-80 percent people in the diamond industry invested in computerized embroidery machines and started new embroidery business and in the process created lot of job opportunities for everybody”, she concluded by saying.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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