BDB Inaugurates Diamond Trading Floor

“It will facilitate the commercial activities of the smaller diamond offices and standalone traders,” Mehta said at the inauguration. Trading floors are a central part of diamond trading in all other diamond centers.

The trading floor was named after the late S.G. Jhaveri of London Star, who was the principal moving force behind the creation of the BDB, in the 1970s. Jhaveri reached out for support from Sharad Pawar, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra state (of which Mumbai is the capital).

Pawar advanced the idea of creating a financial and business hub at the suburban Bandra Kurla Complex where the BDB is located. He told Jhaveri, who had hesitantly asked for 5 to 7 acres of land, that the huge diamond industry would definitely need more. Jhaveri agreed and asked for 13 acres and later for the 20 acres on which the BDB currently stands.

Land allocation took place in 1992, but following the death of Jhaveri in 1991, the bourse project lost its way. It took close to 20 years before completion. Now the Indian Minister for Agriculture, Pawar presided over the inauguration of the trading floor and to unveil a bust of Jhaveri.