SGL – A 15-year journey from India to the World!

After completing 15 years in the industry, can you describe your journey with highlight points?

In 2007 we started our very first Lab in Mumbai with a vision to create an International Laboratory. As of today, we have 13 centres across India & 4 centres at International locations, with each lab having state-of-the-art technology. We are now the second largest lab network in the world. We take pride in mentioning that SGL has been appointed as an arbitrator by the UK court of Law & we are also proud members of JVC. The journey has truly been phenomenal from India to the world.  Adapting to the needs of the gems and jewellery industry, we have also been at the forefront of the lab-grown diamond jewellery certification and detection services with our co-proprietary equipment, “Dia-ScreenTM”.

Why is extensive diamond detection technology and certification so significant in today’s era?

Diamonds are evolving in a manner from being discovered under the earth’s crust “Natural Diamonds” to being manufactured above the earth.

“Lab-Grown Diamonds”.  Since Lab-grown diamonds possess the same optical, physical, and chemical properties, they can’t be differentiated by the naked eye.  Hence SGL has invested significantly in the diamond detection technology “Dia-ScreenTM” which helps distinguish the two. With the penetration of the internet & abundance of content available the new age consumers are much more aware & want to make a more informed decision. Hence offering a third-party certification from internationally accepted certification partners like SGL will only help the retailer in empowering trust in their consumers.

With e-commerce taking its course, how is jewellery certification contributing tothe retail and manufacturing sector?

We have seen a sharp increase in the number of companies now selling their products online to a larger customer base. With the wide range of options in terms of design, prices & types of diamonds available the consumer faces decision paralysis especially when it comes to buying fine jewellery online. To add to this the absence of personal rapport with the consumers makes it imperative for the consumers to choose jewellery which is certified by an Internationally accepted third-party certifying company like SGL. At SGL we work closely with brands like Bluestone, Mellora, and Candere & understand the importance of turn-around time & hence we offer “Tatkal Certification Services” especially for e-commerce companies to help them be able to dispatch their products on time.

With services like same-day certification and the invention of certification seals, will trading of jewels be easier?

Same-day certification is extremely crucial for e-commerce jewellery retailers as most of them produce jewellery on demand. The nature of the e-commerce business has evolved to be extremely time and price competitive in India. A US or UK customer is willing to wait up to 2-3 weeks at times to receive their jewellery which isn’t a trend with the Indian consumer. A certification seal adds to the authenticity of the product as it leaves no room for ambiguity and instils confidence in the supply chain.

How has the launch of the triple-shield service helped in revolutionizing jewellery hallmarking and jewellery certification?

Ever since hallmarking was made mandatory across India in June 2021, we realized it only added to the woes of the manufacturer and retailers, with the continuous movement of jewellery from hallmarking to certification. To help them smoothen this process, we introduced a triple-shield program! Under this program, we partnered with third-party hallmarking centres to cater to the needs of our customers. Additionally, we controlled the metal quality by introducing our own set of metal quality check parameters along with our jewellery certification services. Making it all a one-stop solution for our customers.

What was the thought procedure behind the recent advertising initiative #Jaanophirmaano?

As a company, we have grown from being one lab in 2007 to a worldwide network of 17 labs as of 2022 & we are in the next phase of growth. #JaanoPhirMano is a campaign that helps SGL humbly speak about ourselves, be it our achievements or our services &helps us strengthen relationships with our customers. SGL is a doer brand #Janophirmano is hence a reflection of what SGL has done so far. Lastly, #JanoPhirMano is a campaign to shake the industry status quo of how things have been done so far.

With SGL’s technology at its apex, what is your future vision in terms of innovations or equipment advancements?

We are at the forefront of the tech scene with our detection instrument ‘DiaScreen’ available for the trade across the world. Our continuous research in lab-grown diamond detection and classification has helped us to be ahead of the game and offer the next-generation technology. The latest version of ‘DiaScreen’ uses an Artificial Intelligence-based algorithm to detect and classify various types of natural & lab-grown diamonds. The future of this technology will be its extensive use at the retail for consumer experience and hence we’ve to build a user interface that can enable any retail staff to easily interpret the results.

SGL has now established itself as a globally recognized jewellery certification brand, what is the vision for your Lab has grown to diamond detection service?

Lab-Grown diamonds are here to stay in a format and manner that is and will constantly evolve at a pretty decent pace. We already are moving beyond the detection service and are seeing huge growth in the lab-grown certification area. We recently introduced our latest world-class certificates for natural as well lab-grown diamonds in loose as well as jewellery formats. The detection, classification and certification are all now an integral part of our lab services across our centres. It is defacto the fastest-growing category within the periphery of the gems and jewellery sector and we look forward to gaining a much larger share of this segment with the help of our tech, standards, know-how and top-of-the-line services.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News