Foreign mining companies that bring rough diamonds to Surat for viewing and sale will soon do so inside the Surat Diamond Bourse at Khajod. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) approved a Special Notified Zone (SNZ) on the second floor of the bourse’s Tower-B through Circular No. 44/2026-Customs, dated September 28, as the circular text published by TaxGuru and DeshGujarat show. The new zone replaces the one at Gujarat Hira Bourse in Ichhapore.
What an SNZ does
A Special Notified Zone is a customs-bonded space where a miner can import rough stones without paying duty, show them to Indian buyers, and either sell them or ship the unsold lots back out. Duty becomes payable only on lots that are sold and cleared. For a small Surat cutting unit, that means inspecting and bidding on goods from the source in its own city, instead of travelling to Antwerp or Dubai or buying through middlemen.
India’s first SNZ opened at the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai in 2015. Surat got the second in 2019 at Ichhapore, run by the Surat International Diatrade Centre (SIDC), a subsidiary of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, according to GJEPC. SIDC will run the new zone at the bourse as well.
The rules in the circular
- Stones arrive only as air cargo, transhipped from Mumbai’s Sahar Air Cargo Complex. Hand carriage and courier are not allowed.
- Each consignment needs an invoice, packing list, insurance papers and a Kimberley Process certificate, the scheme that certifies rough diamonds as conflict-free.
- Lots cannot be split or mixed. Sales happen lot by lot, by auction, bidding or negotiation.
- Stones must be repacked within 60 days of import, and unsold lots must be put up for re-export within 75 days.
- Operations start only after written authorisation from the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs, Ahmedabad. Within 10 days of the new zone going live, customs will begin closing the Ichhapore SNZ.
Why the move matters for Surat
Surat cuts and polishes most of the world’s diamonds by volume, but rough supply still flows mainly through Antwerp, Dubai and Mumbai. The Surat Diamond Bourse, inaugurated in December 2023, was pitched as a single address for trading, customs and banking. Moving the rough-diamond window into the same complex puts rough supply under the roof that was built to be the industry’s main trading address.
For traders with offices at Khajod, the gain is practical: viewings in the same building, under the same security and customs presence. For units based in Varachha, Katargam or Mahidharpura, the trip changes direction but remains within the city.
The change will not by itself bring more rough into Surat. That depends on how many miners choose to send goods for viewing, and the circular says nothing on that. Rough supply is also under pressure from weak global demand for natural diamonds and the rise of lab-grown stones, a segment in which Surat has become a major manufacturer.
What to watch
The first signals will be the customs authorisation order from Ahmedabad and the date of the first viewing at Khajod. After that, the test is whether major producers schedule regular sights in Surat, and whether SIDC publishes figures on lots offered and sold, which would show if the zone is drawing more supply than Ichhapore did.
Sources: CBIC Circular 44/2026-Customs (via TaxGuru), DeshGujarat, GJEPC
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.