Gujarat diamond merchant's Diwali gifts to staff

New Delhi: A diamond merchant in India's Gujarat state has gifted cars, flats and jewellery to 1,200 employees as a reward for meeting targets, the company said Monday.

Savji Dholakia who runs a diamond export company in Surat city gifted 491 cars, 207 two-bedroom flats and 570 diamond necklaces ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights being celebrated Thursday.

"These incentives are part of our loyalty programme. Employees who have shown consistent and superior performance over the past five years have been rewarded," Naresh Mayani, Dholakia's secretary, said over the phone from Surat.

The incentives totalled 350 million rupees (5.7 million dollars), Mayani said, adding this was an annual Diwali bonus for the company's employees.

Mayani said there was a "wave of happiness" among company employees ever since the Diwali bonanza was announced Sunday.

"No one in my family has a car, so when I came to know that I'm getting a vehicle, my happiness knew no bounds. Everyone is excited and celebrating at home," he said.

Surat is the hub of India's diamond trade, which has suffered from India's economic slowdown in recent years.

In an example of a rags-to-riches story, Dholakia borrowed money to start off his diamond business in the early 1990s.

Today his company reportedly an annual turnover of about 60 billion rupees with a workforce of 8,000 and offices in Belgium, Hong Kong and Britain.