Dust to Diamonds: The story of Gajeras who own one of the biggest jewellery firm in Gujarat

Soon, they learnt how to cut and polish diamonds. Four years later, like many entrepreneurial members of their community, they had a plan. “We proposed to start a small unit of diamond cutting and polishing,” recalls Chuni, now 53. “My father took a loan of Rs 10,000 from his friend and handed over the money to us.” With that small fortune, they bought two second-hand emery wheels, used to cut and polish diamonds, and set up business in a small rented room on Chandulal Sheth street at Saiyedpura in Surat. “Soon, we were purchasing rough diamonds at Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, and selling them at a profit. We lived in the same room simply to save rent.”

That was the beginning of Laxmi Diamonds, a jewellery firm which has offices in Surat, Mumbai, Bangkok, Antwerp, USA (Manhattan) and Dubai. It employs 5,400 people and had a turnover of Rs 3,700 crore in the year 2014-15. All the brothers live in well-furnished bungalows in Surat now. Having worked their way up the ladder, the Gajeras believe it happened by dint of hard work. They would not comment on the recent agitation for reservation for Patels.