With the rise in demand for polished diamonds, the owners of large units are trying their best to get back the polishers who had gone to their native places in Saurashtra and north Gujarat during the meltdown.

The units, which are flush with orders for supply of the polished diamonds before Christmas, are facing sever staff crunch. To attract the diamond workers, they have planned a bonus of 20 per cent in their salaries.

Before Diwali also, the Surat Diamond Association had decided to shorten the festival vacation and had asked all the units to remain open from the first week of November.

However, only 40 per cent of the factories in Surat as well as Ahmedabad have started their production.

Talking to Newsline, the owner of the J B Diamonds, Jivraj Dharukawala, said, “My company is exporting diamonds and jewellery to international market. We are having a good demand from our international buyers but the time period is very short. The domestic jewellery demand for Christmas sale will start from the second week of November. As we are facing shortage of the polishers, we have announced 20 per cent bonus for them.”

Gem and Jewellery Trade Council of India President, Shantilal Patel, said,

“The manufacturers are trying their best to call diamond artisans back as demand from local and international markets for diamond and jewellery is improving rapidly. We expect that this market will continue till mid of 2010.”