Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel granted a Special Notified Zone (SNZ) status for trading rough diamonds to Surat's jewelry park, run by Gujarat Hira Bourse (GHB) at Ichhapore. The announcement was made at Sparkle International-2015, a gem and jewelry event, reports say.

The jewellery park will be equipped with custom clearance facility enabling manufacturers to directly source their raw material from the various mining companies that are expected open offices in Surat. Now, the industry is awaiting the announcement of the new custom policy framework by the Central Government.

Besides, the chief minister also announced the establishment of training centers for creating a pool of skilled diamond artisans, which will be set up in coordination with the Indian Diamond Institutes (IDI) at Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad and Rajkot, adds a report.

The report further adds that after the setting up of the SNZ, the diamantaires would no longer have to visit the mining companies or the trading centres to purchase rough diamonds. But, the mining companies and rough dealers from across the world would set up their trading offices in Mumbai and Surat. Around five jewellery units have already started operations at Jewellery Park at Ichhapore while another 20 companies have started constructing their units.