Technology aids trust in natural diamonds

The increased affordability of and accessibility to technology has encouraged jewellery retailers to make testing a part of the natural diamond buying experience, building greater confidence in natural diamonds as well as their brand.

- Manoj Chakraborty

Over the last few years, growing awareness of lab-made diamonds has significantly eroded customer confidence in India’s diamond sector. Jewellers have taken cognisance of this market scenario and have now adopted measures to rebuild customer sentiment in the natural diamond category, turning to technology in a bid to boost transparency and benefit the larger diamond industry.

Although lab-grown diamonds have a sizeable market share in India, most often they are sold to customers as natural diamonds. With customers increasingly aware of the easy availability of lab-grown diamonds, they have become hesitant to buy diamond jewellery for fear of being sold the artificial kind, either erroneously or deliberately.

“There has been a lot of development in the lab-grown diamond space over the last decade, with laboratories managing to produce gem-quality diamonds. While there is a high intangible value attached to diamonds, many jewellery products are also passed on for their resale value. But we are now seeing that lab-made diamonds are getting mixed with the natural ones,” says Amarendran Vummidi, managing director of Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers (VBJ).

Pradeep Kothari, the owner of Nagpur’s Karan Kothari Jewellers, echoes Vummidi’s sentiment. “In 2015-16, there was panic in the market over lab-grown diamonds. The machines that were available at that time could only check the authenticity of loose stones and there was no provision to check diamonds that had been set in jewellery.”

Unable to check the authenticity of their diamond jewellery, customers became reluctant to buy more. But thanks to technology, things are now changing.

BUILDING TRUST THROUGH TECHNOLOGY