Diamantaires in the world's biggest diamond cutting and polishing centre in Surat are worried as the polished diamond exports has seen a major decline of 39 per cent in the month of September.

As per the provisional data released by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), polished diamond exports declined 39 per cent year on year to $1.50 billion in September, while the polished diamond imports plunged 72 per cent to $337 million.

For the 2012 calendar year to date, India's polished diamond exports have fallen 41 percent to $13.282 billion and polished imports dropped 22 percent to $4.141 billion

Rough imports, on the other hand, have increased 7 percent year on year to $10.856 billion, while rough exports were basically flat at $1.236 billion.

India's net diamond account for the first nine months of 2012 registered a polished export deficit of $479 million, which was much improved from a deficit of $4.7 billion one year ago.

Industry sources said that the India's gems and jewelry export growth is likely to be flat this year given the current global economic environment. But given this trend, the GJEPC plans to promote diamonds across India and China and expand into new markets to boost growth.

Last year, the country exported gems and jewelry worth $42.84 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2012.

"We feel that the growth will be very much flattish this year because of the current economic situation globally. There is euro zone crisis," said Vipul Shah, the newly elected chairman of the GJEPC. "It will take some time to pick up.... we are looking for the positive Christmas season in the U.S. and hopefully things will start looking better from there on."