Savji Dholakia, the Surat-based diamond merchant, distributed lavish Diwali gifts to his employees on Thursday. Mr Dholakia gave away cars for the fourth year in a row. At a spectacular event in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, handed over the keys of the brand new cars to some of the employees.

The billionaire diamantaire, posted a picture with Mr Modi on his Facebook page and said, around 1700 diamond artists and engineers have been given the cars "as part of our loyalty bonus programme for our employees."

Mr Dholakia, who owns the Hare Krishna Exports, organized an event called the 'Skill India Incentive Ceremony', to distribute 600 cars as Diwali gifts to his employees this year.

On social media, Mr Dholakia said, the diamond polishers of Hari Krishna Group received Renault KWID and Maruti Suzuki Celerio cars. "The on-road price of both the cars are up to Rs. 4.4 lakh and Rs. 5.38 lakh, respectively," he said on the Facebook post. There are around 5,500 employees at Hari Krishna Group and among them, 4,000 have already received their gifts, said the post.

In 2016, Mr Dholakia gifted 400 flats and 1,260 cars as Diwali bonus to his employees and in 2015, 491 cars and 200 flats were gifted, say reports. The diamond merchant, who comes from Amreli in Saurashtra region, had started his business with a small loan from his uncle, says reports.