Organizing the Un-Organized? The Rise, Recession, and Revival of the Indian Diamond Industry

Abstract

The Indian diamond industry thrives in an atmosphere of secrecy and informality. However, it resembles a close-knit community composed of thousands of small, medium and large sized CPD (cut and polished diamonds) units and has grown to become one of the highest foreign exchange earners for the country. An in-depth study of the industry reveals that the so called unorganized sector is in fact highly organized and has great potential to offer useful insights to the field of management in terms of new forms of organizing, networking, business processing, and doing international business. This paper presents a summary of findings from research conducted in the Indian diamond industry over four years.