Surat Diamond Bourse is the largest office complex in the world now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Surat diamond exchange, a complex that has overtaken Pentagon as the world's largest office.
It covers a constructed area of 6.7 million square feet and was completed in July at a cost of Rs 32 billion. The US landmark, which opened in 1943, has an area of 6.5 million square feet.
The bourse comprises a state-of-the-art 'Customs Clearance House' for Import-Export; a jewellery mall for retail jewellery businesses; and a facility for international banking and safe vaults.
While Mumbai has long been the center of exports for diamonds in India, Surat, also known as “Diamond City,” dominates in processing of the precious gems, with about 90% of the world's rough diamonds cut and polished there before they are sold to buyers in places like the US and China. The new bourse aims to centralise the industry under one roof.
The new complex is located inside the Diamond Research and Mercantile City, a business district modeled after the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or Gift City, another one of PM Modi's flagship projects. It has nine 15-story towers and about 4,700 offices. About 130 offices are already in use, according to Nagjibhai Sakariya, president of the Surat Diamond Bourse.