Dinesh Navadiya, regional chairman (Gujarat) of Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) told the Economic Times newspaper, "Production of polished diamonds got affected in the second wave of covid and it is still down by 20 per cent. We want the migrant workers to return but unless the Kharif sowing is over, they are unlikely to come back."

Owing to the second wave of Covid1-19, production of polished diamonds has fallen by 20 per cent and is yet to recover. Many migrant labourers have gone back to their villages have taken to farming Kharif crops. 

Diamond companies are hence offering a 10 per cent hike in their wages to lure them back to Surat so that demand can be met.