India is leading the quest towards creation of greener supply chain by producing diamonds in labs. The country has recorded six-fold rise in the exports of lab-grown expensive gems in past three years, in what is about a $22 billion market across the world.
Lab-grown diamonds (LGD) witnessed a remarkable rise during the last three years and accounted for 7.5 per cent of the total polished diamond exports from India in the first nine months of FY2023, up from 1 per cent in FY2019, according to rating agency ICRA.
India has made sustained efforts to boost the production of lab-grown diamonds. Notably, Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister of world’s fifth largest economy, during her annual budget speech this year, announced India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s intent in this direction.
Sitharaman announced the reduction in customs duty on the seeds used in lab-grown diamond manufacturing. She also announced a grant to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to facilitate the growth of lab-grown diamonds in India. Following the announcements, a research grant of ₹242 crore over five years to IIT Madras was approved based on experience in diamond research by the institution, having developed many technologies for industry, space and defence sectors.
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“India is keen to move away from the contrived controversies by vested interests surrounding the naturally mined diamonds and create a market where the product could be matched with the mined diamonds and offered at a much lower rate,” Shantanu Ray, author of ‘Diamond Trail: How India Rose To Global Domination’, wrote in an article published April 1, 2023.
What are Lab-grown diamonds?
Lab-grown diamonds are produced using specific technology which mimics the geological processes that grow natural diamonds. It is a process called Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) that involves putting a diamond seed in a sealed chamber filled with carbon-rich gas and heating to around 800C. The gas sticks on the seed, building up a diamond atom by atom.
India accounts for 15 per cent of the global lab-grown diamonds production , official records say. The country produces about 3 million lab-grown diamonds each year. The country houses 90 per cent of the world’s diamond cutting and polishing units, making it the largest exporter of diamonds.
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