Is Mumbai set to lose its crown jewel to Surat?

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Editor's note: For the last eight years, Murugan Thamarai has run his food stall on the footpath opposite gate number 8 of the Bharat Diamond Bourse, selling idlis and vadas. Located in a relatively isolated stretch of the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai's new financial district, it helps that there aren’t too many affordable options around. Despite the pandemic, business has been brisk at the stall. The record high that exports of diamonds and jewellery hit last year could have something to do with it. Thousands of employees file into the bourse each morning and many among them grab a snack before they go to work at the hundreds of offices in the bourse. Murugan winds up by noon and life couldn’t be better. Yet there’s something that’s bugging him. It’s from November last year, when he received an unusual offer. A regular customer, who owned a diamond broking firm at the bourse, asked if he was willing to shift his business to Surat. Unlike his current makeshift stall, he was promised a permanent shop and help with moving his family.  To nudge …