Vithal Mendapara, president of the Bhavnagar diamond Association, said: “Till some time ago, only 10 per cent of the diamond units were functioning. The others had downed shutters. Now, the ghantis (polishing equipment) have started at over 25 per cent of the units.”

Following some mobility in the market, the big units have already got into the grind and now small units in Amreli and Bhavnagar too are joining the fray.

Bhavnagar district in Saurashtra has over 200 polishing units, which function as subsidiaries for trading and export houses in Surat, which account for polishing of over 95 per cent of diamonds the world over. The closure of units in the wake of the global meltdown led to over two lakh workers in Bhavnagar losing their jobs and 10 suicides by the jobless workers.

Industry leaders say out of the two lakh workers, 50,000 are back to work, and many more will be accommodated soon.

“In Amreli, smaller units are showing signs of improvement,” said Lalit Thumar, president of the Gujarat Diamond Federation, an umbrella of 42 associations of diamond workers and owners.

Amreli has over 1,500 units and more than 60,000 workers. As many as 12 jobless workers have committed suicide here since December 2008.

“It’s like a ripple effect. Once the big units have started work, the smaller units are bound to get new work,” said Vasant Gajjera, a leading diamond trader, who has units both at Amreli and Surat.

Reopening is easier for smaller units though, which do not have any backlog.

“At the start of the meltdown, following decreasing rates, the big units couldn’t sell off polished stones, leading to a huge backlog.

The subsidiaries, however, never faced this problem as they are concerned only with polishing and have nothing

to do with trading,” said Mendepara.

K K Sharma, Executive chairman, Indian Diamond Institute, a research and training unit, said: “We are seeing signs of improvement, but it will take a long time before we see a complete revival.”