During his visit to the U.S. this week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden multiple gifts on Wednesday. But the most interesting among them was a papier mache box containing a 7.5 carat lab grown diamond.
The lab-grown diamond (LGD) is at the heart of India’s bid to become a global leader in producing the synthetic alternative, which has a much smaller carbon footprint than mined diamonds, and is seen as “conflict free.” “Lab-grown diamonds is a technology and innovation sector with high employment potential,” Sitharaman said in her speech. “These are environmentally-friendly diamonds which have optically and chemically the same properties as natural diamonds.”
Currently, India produces 15% of all LGDs in the world, according to India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry. China is believed to be the leading producer of them around the world, accounting for 50% of the global market share. According to Allied Market Research, the industry was worth $22.3 billion in 2021, and is expected to more than double over the next decade to $55.6 billion.
“The key thing to know about India is that it is already the premier diamond polishing center for both natural and laboratory diamonds. About 90% of all diamonds in the world are polished in India,” says Edahn Golan, a diamond research and data analyst. According to Golan, this puts India in a good position to move into the LDG space.
“It was kind of a natural evolution that when lab-grown diamonds became more popular, India would be an important center for that as well,” he says. |
|
|
