Jains from the small Gujarati town of Palanpur now dominate the worldwide diamond wholesaling business, taking in 65% of the revenues of the diamond capital in Belgium:

In what was once a predominantly Jewish neighborhood near Antwerp’s central station, young Indians in Armani suits haggle with Hasidic diamond buyers in long black coats, side curls and skullcaps. Hoveniersstraat, a street once celebrated for its kosher restaurants, now offers the best curry in town.

Eighty percent of diamonds worldwide now pass through Indian hands:

Indians like Mr. Shah gained a commercial edge over the Jews by sending their rough diamonds for finishing work to family-owned factories in Bombay and the northern Indian state of Gujarat, where labor costs are as much as 80% lower than in Antwerp… The Indians also proved canny at polishing and cutting the lower-quality rough diamonds that Jewish traders typically overlooked… “We turned cotton into silk…”

India now employs nearly a million diamond polishers. Meanwhile, Jewish diamantaires had some culturally-specific business issues:

Indians… aren’t required by their religion to close their businesses from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday… Many [Jews] were Holocaust survivors afraid to part with their assets or send very expensive valuables far away… (WSJ)

While Hasidic diamond dealers bemoan the competition, there’s been deep cultural mixing:

… many of the Indian dealers speak Hebrew and Yiddish. It is common to see donation boxes for Jewish charities in the entrances of Indian businesses, and after a devastating earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2001, Jewish diamond traders raised thousands of euros for humanitarian aid… Mr. Mehta says he has lost count of the number of times he has been lifted up on a chair at a Hasidic wedding… “we keep tens of thousands of dollars worth of each other’s diamonds in our safes and we haven’t bothered writing a contract in nearly 30 years. I only hope my son has a business partner who is such a mensche.”

As with Gujarati-owned hotels and motels in the U.S., these businesses are built on extended families:

most firms are family-owned and run (Rosy Blue is about the first to break the mould). In fact, the top half-dozen firms are all related by marriage. The scion of Gembel is married to the daughter of Vijaydimon; Vijay’s daughter is married into the Eurostar family.

Jews complain of being pushed out:

On a recent day at the Beurs’s expansive trading floor… in a hall the size of a football field, there isn’t a single Indian. “The Indians don’t come here — they are in their offices where the really big deals take place,” laments Yves Szerer, a dapper young Jewish dealer. (WSJ)

Jains complain of disrespect:

They want better representation on Antwerp’s High Diamond Council, the powerful body that regulates the city’s diamond industry. In February, the first two Indians were elected to the council’s board of directors, but many Indian dealers dismiss it as a token gesture — the board has 20 members. “We make up the bulk of Antwerp’s diamond trade and yet have no voice on the most important trade bodies in town,” fumes Bharat Shah, an Indian diamond trader.

Now that they’re successful, the Jains aren’t afraid to splurge with those oh-so-shaukeen weddings:

… they let their hair down in the most extravagantly desi manner possible. This includes multi-million dollar weddings for which they fly down assorted Khans, Khannas and Kapoors. Cricket is the other passion… The games are million dollar affairs – one year they called Colonial Cousins to perform; then Cirque du Soleil; then Bombay Dreams. (ToI)

India’s been in the diamond business for centuries:

…India, where the world’s first diamonds were discovered in 800 B.C., provided most of the world’s supply until the 18th-century diamond rushes in South Africa and Brazil. (WSJ)