Mumbai, 9 August Lab-grown diamonds to comprise 2% of gem exports to US

Lab-grown diamond jewellery is likely to capture over 2 per cent of India’s $14-billion overall gems and jewellery exports to the US, which is the world’s largest market for precious stones and metals and contributes nearly half of the world production.

Exports to the US, which is the largest market for Indian exporters, is estimated to be $280 million this year.

Commercialised officially with a separate HS (harmonised system) code in India last year, lab grown diamond is gradually making inroads into the Indian jewellery manufacturing industry. With its price quoted at a fourth of natural diamonds, the lab grown precious stone is also lustrous and shining.

“In the US, consumers are aggressively opting to purchase lab grown diamond jewellery to save money and divert their investible surplus funds to other asset classes. Indian exporters have recorded an increase in orders from the US for the ensuing festive season, including Christmas and New Year. We estimate that lab grown diamond jewellery will capture 2 per cent of the US market share from the overall exports of gems and jewellery to the US,” said Shashikant Dalichand Shah, chairman of the Lab Grown Diamond and Jewellery Promotion Council.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the International Lab Grown Diamond and Jeweller Expo 2019 here on Friday. Apart from the US, India exports its lab grown diamond to France, Italy and Australia, among other European and Asian countries, but in a negligible quantity.

Having its own manufacturing facility, India does not export lab grown diamond jewellery to China but imports a lot of small sized lab grown rough diamond from there.

Indian jewellery makers, however, import large-sized lab grown rough diamonds from the United States.

“Like natural diamond, India has proved its leadership role in cutting and polishing of lab grown rough diamond which enjoys the same processing method as natural diamond. Hence, a large quantity of lab grown diamond produced worldwide is processed in India back for branding and retailing,” said Arvind Patel, managing director, SLTL Group, a Gandhinagar (Gujarat)-based technology supplier for lab grown diamond.