GIA to expand Indian offerings, revise grading for lab-grown diamonds

GIA will stop using traditional clarity and colour scales for lab-grown diamonds and expand services in India to support rising consumer confidence in jewellery

Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will continue to add new services to the Indian market to ensure that consumer confidence in gems and jewellery remains intact. 

“We certainly understand the criticality of how India's retail market is growing, and as our mission is to ensure consumer confidence in gems and jewellery, we will continue to add new services as required to ensure that confidence remains,” Susan Jacques, president & global chief executive officer at GIA told Business Standard. 

Jacques, however, did not elaborate on what services are expected. 

“I can't give you definitive plans, but we certainly have continual conversations about what our presence needs to be and where. In education, we have obviously a different plan than for laboratory services, but we see great opportunity in coloured stones,” Jacques said. 

Beginning later this year, GIA- which is dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and jewellery- will start using descriptive terms to characterise the quality of laboratory-grown diamonds and will no longer use the colour and clarity nomenclature that GIA developed for natural diamonds. 

 

She also added that GIA has introduced pearl services as well in the Indian market.

 

“We don't necessarily need to enlarge our footprint to provide our services. As India was a diamond dominant, and our clients who submit for our services in most cases are not necessarily the retailer, they're the manufacturer. Being present for diamonds in India was extremely important, and we came early,” she explained.

 

While talking about emerging trends, she said that in the US market, a lot of people are choosing different cuts for diamonds than previous generations.

 

“We're seeing a huge shift towards fancy cut diamonds versus a traditional round cut. We're seeing people aspiring to have a coloured gemstone for an engagement ring. As trends evolve and as the consumer preferences change, we adapt to the necessary services we can provide,” Jacques said.