Mumbai: India’s export of polished diamonds has lost its sparkle ever since angadias, or couriers, suspended their operations following raids by the authorities earlier this month over suspected tax evasion, says an Economic Times report.

The angadias, who have been ferrying rough diamonds from Mumbai to Surat and polished diamonds from Surat to Mumbai, have decided not to resume work till they get clear guidelines from the government, crippling the trade in the process, some people aware of the matter said.

This came after the departments of goods and services tax (GST) and central excise carried out joint raids in Mumbai on January 4 and said they had detained 85 angadias who were carrying 90 bags containing 1,042 high-value parcels.

“The action against the angadias has completely disrupted trade, particularly exports, said Praveen Shankar Pandya, the past chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). “The raids have caused extensive damage to the trade in general and the angadia community in particular.”

However, Mumbai GST commissioner, KN Raghavan, told ET that the parcels which had proper documents were released subsequently. “If someone comes with proper documents then we will immediately release the parcels. In case they do not have proper documents they will have to pay the duty and take away the parcel,” he said. “We will intervene whenever there is some wrong practice. The trade should therefore be more cautious and careful,” he said.

The crackdown came at a time when the demand for diamond in the world markets had started picking up. The export of cut and polished diamonds in December 2017 increased 7.68% to $1,592.30 million from $1,478.71million a year ago.