India's lab diamonds give jitters to global markets

'Lab-grown diamonds, branded wrongly as fake, are a $22 billion market across the world'.

- SHANTANU GUHA RAY

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's recent focus on lab-grown diamonds has set the proverbial cat among pigeons in the global diamond markets. And it is because India is a top player in the global diamond market.

India's prowess to push lab-grown diamonds is well known. Many top Indian merchants wanted to push this segment almost a decade-and-a-half ago, but were prevented and even maligned by some of the world's top diamond brands who argued for natural, mined diamonds.Lab-grown diamonds-it is reliably learnt-were even branded wrongly as fake.

But now, the markets have changed, lab-grown diamonds are a $22 billion market across the world.

Most retailers are now being taught that beyond their disparate origins, labgrown diamonds are chemically, optically, and physically identical. And there is no difference between labgrown diamonds and the ones mined.

This is not all. Lab-grown diamonds are much cheaper than those mined. And this is exactly the message New Delhi wanted the world diamond market to convey to consumers.

During her budget speech, Sitharaman announced the government's move to focus on lab-grown diamonds. "Customs duty on the seeds used in lab-grown diamond manufacturing will be reduced", announced the finance minister. She also announced a grant to IITs to facilitate the growth of labgrown diamonds in India.

Lab-grown diamonds are produced using specific technology which mimics the geological processes that grow natural diamonds. These are not the same as diamond simulants. The Indian diamond market, considered among the biggest in the world, is now hyperactive on labgrown diamonds.