The Indian government is facing calls to adopt US guidelines to distinguish lab growns from natural diamonds.
The 10,000-member GJEPC (Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council) says there is widespread confusion in the way diamonds are marketed and advertised.
It says India should adopt the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines, which say there must be a “clear and conspicuous” indicating that a diamond is man-made.
They also say the term “diamond” without qualification can only be used to refer to a natural, mined diamond.
And lab growns cannot be described as “real,” “genuine,” “natural,” or “precious” without additional qualifying language.
The GJEPC has written to India’s Department of Consumer Affairs calling for strict rules to differentiate between natural and lab grown.
“The absence of standardised guidelines on diamond terminology leads to ambiguity,” it says.
“And there are no mandatory disclosure requirements to indicate whether a diamond is lab-grown or natural to the consumer.”
India’s exports of polished diamonds fell by 23.8 per cent year-on-year in August, according to the latest figures from the GJEPC (Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council).
Total foreign sales were $1.04bn, compared to $1.36bn last August. Exports in July were $908m, down 22.7 per cent.
Polished diamond exports have fallen every month this year, down 20 per cent in January, 28 per cent in February, 27 per cent in March, 17 per cent in April, 15 per cent in May and 26 per cent in June. All figures are for US dollars.
Gross exports of all gems and jewelry fell by 18.8 per cent during August – a slower rate of decline than diamonds – to $2.01bn.
Rough imports for the April to August period were down 22.6 per cent to $4.98bn.
Nirmala Sitharaman finance minister of india in a press confrence .
India’s diamond industry welcomed a raft of measures announced in today’s budget (23 July) which will encourage direct diamond sales from foreign mining companies and reduce tax on key raw materials.
Finance Minister Nirmala (pictured) said safe harbor rates would be introduced, providing fixed and favorable tax rates for rough purchases in the country’s SNZs (Special Notified Zones).
Safe harbor streamlines the taxation process and eliminates unexpected liabilities for foreign suppliers.
Sitharaman also announced significant tax reductions on gold and silver to 6 per cent (from 15 per cent and 10 per cent) and on platinum to 6.4 per cent (from 12.5 per cent) and the exemption of diamond sales from a 2 per cent equalization levy aimed at promoting sustainability.
“India is a world leader in the diamond cutting and polishing industry, which employs a large number of skilled workers,” Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.
“To further promote the development of this sector, we would provide for safe harbor rates for foreign mining companies selling raw diamonds in the country.”
“I want to applaud and congratulate the Central Government for their three-point game changing decisions for the gems and jewellery industry,” said Vipul Shah, chairman of GJEPC (Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council).
“The reduction of customs duty on gold and silver, exclusion of diamond sector from 2 per cent equalisation level and simplifying taxation rules in Special Notified Zones (SNZ) for rough diamonds will provide a leadership position to the Indian gems and jewellery industry.”
Jewelers in India have shattered a world record with a ring made of 50,907 diamonds.
The Eutierria Ring has more than twice as many diamonds as the previous record holder, The Touch of Ami, with 24,679 diamonds. Both rings were made in India.
The new ring, created by H.K. Designs and Hari Krishna Exports, was certified last month by Guinness World Records as the ring with the most diamonds.
The ring took nine months to design and make, entirely of recycled materials – 460.55 grams of gold and 130.19 carats of diamonds all re-purposed from customer returns.
It is designed as a sunflower with four layers of petals, a shank, two diamond discs, and a butterfly.
It has been certified by IGI and has a retail value of $785,645, according to a press release issued jointly by both companies.
It takes its name, Eutierria, from a term describing a positive feeling of oneness with the earth.
Plummeting demand for cut and polished diamonds in the West and China has pushed some 20,000 workers out of work in the last one month in Surat, where 80% of the diamonds sold globally are polished.
Surat, the main centre of India’s diamond industry, offers employment to some 800,000 workers in its 4,000-odd cutting and polishing units. But work has been drying up, forcing the units to work at 60-70% capacity, said Damji Mavani, secretary of Surat Diamond Association (SDA). It also means fewer workers are needed.
“Fear is looming large in the diamond city of Surat whether the recession of 2008 will be repeated this year too,” said Bhavesh Tank, vice president of Diamond Workers Union, Gujarat. “Orders are fewer and so the workload is less. Therefore, the units are reducing workforce. Some units are cutting down work days so that they do not have to pay the workers on days when they are not working.”
According to Tank, nearly 20,000 diamond workers in Surat have lost jobs in the last one month.
The US is the biggest market for cut and polished diamonds, followed by China.
India’s diamond exports began slowing in November last year. According to data from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), overall gross exports of cut and polished diamonds in the April to November period of FY23 declined by 5.43% from the year-ago period.
Another reason is the dropping price of the polished pieces. While the price of rough diamonds continues to be high, that of the polished ones have softened due to low demand, which is impacting the margins of diamantaires and forcing them to reduce workforce.
Mavani of SDA said the workers who have lost their jobs will find work in other areas. “There is a 30% vacancy in most of the factories,” he said.
However, there’s an air of uncertainty in Surat due to the fear of recession in the US, Europe and China. “We do not know when the situation will improve. It may take one year for a robust uptick in demand from overseas markets,” the SDA secretary said.
“With the pandemic in China making a comeback and there are no signs of respite from the war between Russia and Ukraine, inflation soaring in some parts of the world, we are out there for some tough times,” said Vipul Shah, chairman, GJE ..
Shah said the drop in price of polished diamond is eating into the margins of traders.
Traders said business in polished diamonds is also sluggish because of the seasonal lull, lingering economic uncertainty, and the slowdown in China. Although China eased its Covid-19 lockdowns last month, another outbreak stifled the recovery ahead of their Lunar New Year.
India’s jewelry industry could lose business to rivals such as China and Mexico if the US goes ahead with its proposed new tariffs on the sector, industry leaders warned this week.
Fresh import duties would jeopardize jobs and the well-being of the industry in both India and America, officials from the southern Asian nation said Monday in a meeting with the US Trade Representative (USTR).
The calls come after the USTR threatened to levy punitive tariffs of up to 25% on 17 jewelry categories originating in India, as well as on certain goods from other countries. The action, which it announced in March, was a response to e-commerce taxes in those jurisdictions that targeted online retailers. The proposed tax excludes loose diamonds.
Around 140 members of the Indian trade submitted petitions against the move before the April 30 deadline, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said Tuesday. The USTR allowed a panel of industry representatives to present comments at the virtual meeting.
Leading the delegation, GJEPC chairman Colin Shah argued that India had already seen a decline in gold-jewelry exports to the US after losing its preferential trade status with the US around 15 years ago. The latest move would exacerbate the situation, he insisted.
“Further [duties] on jewelry will accelerate that drop, and the beneficiaries will be China and Mexico,” Shah told USTR officials.
While Indian jobs would shift to other countries, US jewelry companies would miss out on the long credit and memo facilities that Indian suppliers offer, Shah added. In addition, India jewelry companies operate an estimated 500 offices across the US, employing thousands of locals, he asserted.
India’s exports of gold jewelry to America fell 22% from $1.9 billion in 2007 to $1.49 billion in 2019, according to a report the GJEPC released in March.
