(IDEX Online) - India could hugely increase its lab grown diamond production to support a "stronger and more self-reliant domestic cutting and polishing industry," says the GJEPC.
It currently produces around 1.5m carats, a distant second place to China's 3m carats (Bain/AWDC figures for 2021).
But Colin Shah (pictured), chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Council, says the lab grown industry has the potential to employ 1m people to process 150m carats of lab-grown diamonds and achieve an export turnover of $5.14bn in "the near future".
He was addressing government commerce official, who agreed to consider tax breaks for the importation of lab grown machinery.
Shah also outlined proposals for a production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme for factories investing at least $6m in lab growns.
India's cutting and polishing industry is currently being hit by severe rough shortages as sanctions and banking restrictions hit supplies from Russia....