India becomes 2nd largest diamond market, crosses China

MUMBAI: Buoyed by the robust growth that has catapulted the country as the world’s second-largest diamond market overtaking China in 2024, apex trade promotion body Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council expects the domestic diamond industry to double by 2030 to become a $17 billion industry, while the overall gems and jewellery market will touch $130 billion by then from $85 billion in 2024. Currently, the domestic natural diamonds market is only about $8.7 billion or about a tenth of the $85-billion gems and jewellery industry, while the lab-grown diamonds are about $2 billion most of which are exported, Vipul Shah, the GJEPC chairman, told TNIE here Tuesday. Shah, who also runs a diamond cutting and polishing unit called Asian Star which had around Rs 3,500 crore of topline last fiscal, was speaking after signing an agreement with the world’s largest natural diamonds miner De Beers Group here for forging a national alliance for diamond retailers--the Indian Natural Diamond Retailer Alliance or Indra, which will focus on supporting independent retailers with marketing support which will help them reach out to a larger customer base. The alliance will also help retailers benefit from multi-lingual staff training modules focused on generic knowledge on natural diamonds as well providing customisable marketing assets and content for retailers to promote natural diamonds at a store level.