RJIF 2021: Future of Diamonds and One Stop solution

Since years, the Indian diamond jewellery industry has been a bit apprehensive of the popularity of lab-grown diamonds in the market. Some fear market cannibalization by the LGDs, but the future shows a different picture of market coexistence of the two varieties. SGL’s session painted a positive picture of the future enriched with sustainability.

Sharing natural diamond production figures in Russia, Africa, Canada and other countries with major mining operations, Chirag Soni, co-founder, SGL, pegged at a 136 million carats benchmark this year. Not considering the abysmal outcomes of Covid-infested 2020, there has been a 4% year-on-year global demand growth of natural diamonds. The US alone has its demand up by 27%. This, said Soni, creates a supply deficit that LGDs have been serving with their entirely different range of products, services and conditions.

Sharing a video that walked the audience through differences in natural and lab-grown diamond making processes, Soni informed that the types can be identified only on an atomic level through use of state-of-the-art laboratory instruments. This uncanny resemblance makes LGDs more long-lasting than cubic zirconia, while their lab-grown origin makes them sustainable. This has created two markets, one each for LGD and naturals. While the natural diamond industry thrives on rarity, symbolism and supply discipline, the LGD market banks on cost and sustainability.

Surat in Gujarat is not only the biggest diamond cutting and polishing center globally today. It is also becoming the biggest producer of CVD diamond roughs that become solitaires. As per GJEPC data, Soni shared that the value of LGD polished diamonds exported for April-July 2021 quarter has jumped to over  Rs 2700 crores from over Rs 585 crores worth of export in the same quarter in 2020. In India, Limelight and Wondr Diamonds have been tasting significant success in retail for LGDs in 2021. But that doesn’t undermine the might of the natural diamond industry that still holds 99% of the market share.

With the market becoming conducive for coexistence of natural diamonds and LGDs, certification is of paramount importance. On that thought, Soni launched SGL’s triple-shield certification that takes care of metal quality assurance, gold hallmarking and diamond certification for each sample submission. Approved third-party partners and hallmarking centers with high compliance levels are under this umbrella service by SGL. With quick turnaround time, one point of contact and complete vendor analysis, partners get the track record of product approvals and rejections with their reasons all in the My SGL account. With such a robust mechanism of SGL, the natural diamonds industry is poised for a safe path of growth.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News