Lab-grown diamonds a rage in China and the West, but trend eludes India

With global natural diamond supplies predicted to start declining from this year, LGDs are gaining ground as a useful disruptive technology.

For some decades, De Beers, the world’s largest diamond miner, has been focusing on a product that essentially competes with its core business: synthetic or lab-grown diamonds (LGDs). Initially, the UK-headquartered major produced LGDs for industrial purposes through a subsidiary called Element Six. Then in 2018, it set up Lightbox Jewelry, a fashion jewellery business built on LGDs.

This retail line from the conglomerate that controls a third of the world’s natural diamond business is the strongest signal yet of a growing market that offers India major opportunities for exports and creating a domestic market. Being lab-created, LGDs are considerably