When Kamiya Jani lands in Surat for an episode of Stories From Bharat, she isn’t walking into a factory floor or a glass office. She’s stepping into Savji Dholakia’s world, the man the country casually calls the “Diamond King of India.” The meeting happens at Dhulada Van, his sprawling 50-acre private estate, and the first hour is spent in the most Gujarati way possible: over food.
Why Does Savji Dholakia Gift His Employees Cars?
The real episode isn’t about what’s on the plate, it’s about what he built and how. Savji begins talking about the early days, when his company was still small enough that every employee mattered to him like family. Back then, they trained their own people. They shaped managers from scratch, taught them the craft, and invested time, patience, and skill. And then, just when those employees became valuable, the big companies would do what big companies do best, swoop in and take them.
It happened again and again. That’s when Savji made a decision that sounds simple but is almost radical in practice. He decided he would never chase employees again. He wouldn’t go looking for workers. Instead, he would create a place so strong, so rewarding, so rooted in respect, that employees would come to him and stay.
That’s where his model began. He introduced salaries that people didn’t expect from the diamond world, as high as one lakh a month. He created a culture where the best performer of the year didn’t just get a certificate but a car! Slowly, the strategy became sharper with value addition, avoiding business breaking points, and deciding quantity, all of it was connected back to the employee’s growth and reward. The message was clear: if the company rises, the worker rises with it.
Also Read: Diamond King, Savji Dholakia, Who Gifts Flats To Employees, Meets Kamiya Jani On Stories From Bharat
How Has No One Been Able To Take His Employees Away For 17 Years?
Savji says this approach has made his workforce untouchable. “Satra saal ho gaye hain,” he explains. For seventeen years, no one has been able to take his employees away. And if someone does leave? He shrugs with a kind of calm finality and says that maybe they weren’t meant for him.
He isn’t pretending people never go, he just says plainly that, if one leaves, ten more come.
Those who add value to a diamond, the ones who polish, shape, and elevate it, are given commissions too. And then comes the line that lands like a thesis statement, the kind of sentence you know people will quote.
“Hum diamond nahi banate… hum aadmi banate hain. Diamond toh byproduct hai.”
Savji’s Business Philosophy Is An Eye-Opener
We don’t make diamonds, we make people. Kamiya Jani, our editor-in-chief, asks the most practical question possible: Doesn’t this cut into profits? Isn’t a business owner supposed to maximise margins?
He calls that mindset wrong. “Jitna dete hain, utna zyada milta hai,” he says. The more you give, the more comes back, and if you become rigid about income, you become rigid in your thinking, and then growth stops anyway.
He shares what that generosity looks like in reality: he has gifted cars to 491 employees. Their families were invited, and every name was announced on stage in this ceremony, and each person felt seen.
And when she asks, “Ghar ho toh car milti hai?” “Ghar bhi dete hain hum,” he says.
They give homes too. And if someone already has a car, then they give jewellery to their wife, because that matters as well.
Also Read: India’s Diamond King, Savji Dholakia, Reveals How He Manifested Success In The Early 2000s
It’s not a reward system, it’s more like a worldview. For Savji Dholakia, diamonds may be the product, but people are, as they say, “the whole point.”
Cover Image Courtesy: Internal
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