Indian diamond industry umbrella body, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), has an investigation into which diamond plants in Surat, the country’s largest diamond cutting and polishing center, are manufacturing synthetic stones.
The global diamond industry has expressed its concerns in recent months after reports of undisclosed lab-created diamonds being mixed in with natural melee stones, including in India.
The GJEPC has asked management consultants A T Kearney and De Beers brokers Bonas & Co. to help in the project which aims to “establish the current status, and to prepare a framework/guideline for the industry members to trade in natural and synthetic diamonds,” according to a report in The Times of India.
A Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee (NDMC) has also been established, including bodies such as the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) and the Mumbai Diamond Merchants' Association (MDMA), to make recommendations relating to synthetic diamonds.
Diamond experts from Mumbai have been in Surat in the past week aiming to uncover the size of synthetic diamond production and how the stones are mixed with natural diamond parcels for sale.
A senior GJEPC official said, "We have sent a team of experts to Surat to find out units manufacturing synthetic diamonds. The manufacturers would be quizzed on various points. A detailed report will be submitted to the Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee (NDMC)."
