Indian Diamantaires Baffled as Banks Freeze Accounts

(IDEX Online) - Banks have frozen accounts belonging to dozens of diamond manufacturers and traders in India.

No clear reason has been provided, although one news report mentions a police probe into alleged cyber-fraud.

Police forces in the southern states of Telangana and and Kerala ordered banks to suspend 27 accounts of jewelry businesses based in Surat, the country's diamond polishing capital.

"Police not only seized jewellery firms' accounts but froze all linked accounts too," Dinesh Navadiya, director of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) told The Times of India.

"This has put the firms in major inconvenience as they are unable to make payments or withdraw money."

He said the banks had not given any reason for the accounts being frozen.

Among those firms affected are several natural diamond manufacturers with annual turnovers of more than $1.2m (₹10 crore). They were due to raise the matter with the police.