Why India Is at the Centre of the Lab-Grown Diamond Boom As lab-grown diamonds scale globally, India's manufacturing strength is reshaping how diamonds are produced, priced, and consumed, unlocking a new era of everyday fine jewellery.

As lab-grown diamonds scale globally, India is emerging as a central force in the category. Backed by its dominance in cutting and polishing nearly 90 per cent of the world's diamonds, the country is turning diamonds from rare milestone purchases into frequent, design-led everyday luxury.

The market size of lab-grown diamonds has grown from roughly USD 25–29 billion globally to projections of USD 75–100 billion over the next decade, signalling a structural shift in how the category is perceived and consumed.

Across brands, one shift is unmistakable: diamonds are no longer being purchased only for weddings or once-in-a-lifetime milestones. They are increasingly being bought for self-reward, everyday wear, career moments, anniversaries, and even style refreshes.

"We're seeing a clear shift from occasion-led to intent-led buying," says Vidita Kochar Jain, Co-founder of Jewelbox, adding, "The lab-grown diamond customer today is younger and far more self-driven. Jewellery is viewed as an extension of personal style rather than a once-in-a-lifetime asset."

This change is reflected not just in who is buying, but also in how often they buy. Multiple founders point to higher purchase frequency and repeat behaviour, something traditional diamond jewellery rarely enjoyed.

According to Namita Kothari, Founder of Akoirah by Augmont, over 70 per cent of buyers now fall in the 24–45 age bracket, with a visible rise in self-purchasing women and repeat customers beyond bridal intent.

Ricky Vasandani, CEO and Founder of Solitario Diamonds, frames this as a mindset shift. "Customers are buying for career wins, travel memories, or simply as a style refresh. Intent has moved away from asset thinking to emotional value, design, and responsible luxury."

India's Manufacturing Edge

India's dominance in cutting and polishing has long powered the natural diamond trade. In the lab-grown era, that same ecosystem has evolved into a significant competitive moat.

With integrated access to cutting, polishing, grading, and jewellery manufacturing, Indian brands can compress design-to-market timelines, experiment more freely with collections, and maintain tighter control over quality and pricing. This agility allows jewellery to behave more like fashion: iterative, responsive, and trend-led, rather than static heirloom luxury.

"India's diamond-processing ecosystem is a decisive advantage," Vasandani explains, adding, "It enables faster customisation, quicker launches, and accessible pricing without diluting craftsmanship."

This infrastructure advantage is also visible in export data. Polished lab-grown diamond export volumes from India rose sharply in 2024–25, even as export value growth lagged, an early signal of price compression as capacity ramps up. Surat, home to over 800,000 diamond workers, remains the nucleus of this shift, underlining both the scale and social footprint of the transition.

Redefining Value Beyond Scarcity

Perhaps the most fundamental change lab-grown diamonds introduce is philosophical. Without rarity or strong resale narratives, brands are being forced to articulate value differently, and consumers are responding.

"For lab-grown diamonds, value is defined by relevance and usability rather than scarcity," says Kochar Jain. Transparency, certification, cut quality, and design increasingly matter more than what the stone might be worth decades later.

At Limelight Lab Grown Diamonds, Founder and MD Pooja Madhavan sees this as a clean break from legacy thinking. "Our customers are not buying for resale speculation. They're buying for wearability, emotional relevance, and honest pricing. Diamonds have moved closer to everyday style than locked-away assets."

Some brands are also addressing trust gaps through customer-friendly policies. Rupesh Jain, Co-founder of Lucira, notes that exchange and buyback assurances help reduce hesitation and encourage confident buying, even as resale values for lab-grown diamonds remain lower than those of mined stones.

How Jewellery Became A Lifestyle Buy

The business implications of this shift are significant. While average order values remain healthy, founders consistently point to lifetime customer value as the larger unlock.

"Jewellery has transitioned from being a once-in-a-decade purchase to something consumers buy multiple times across life stages," says Vasandani. Customers are now building wardrobes of rings, studs, pendants, and solitaires, upgrading designs, experimenting with silhouettes, and returning for gifting.

Madhavan echoes this trend. "We see higher repeat purchases within the same year. Customers explore categories rather than waiting for milestones. That fundamentally changes how fine jewellery scales."

This behavioural shift is also expanding the overall addressable market. Urban estimates suggest lab-grown diamonds already account for 8–10 per cent of diamond jewellery sales in some cities, with that share expected to rise as awareness and trust deepen.

Growth With Structural Friction

The optimism around lab-grown diamonds is tempered by real structural risks. Wholesale prices for larger lab-grown stones have fallen sharply since 2018, with industry leaders warning that oversupply could commoditise the category if brands compete purely on price.

Certification is another evolving fault line. With grading standards in flux and consumer understanding still uneven, education remains critical. Brands that fail to build trust and differentiation risk being pulled into a race to the bottom.

There are also labour implications. As margins compress, wage pressure on polishers in hubs like Surat has become more visible, raising questions about how the benefits of scale are distributed across the value chain.

Despite these challenges, industry consensus is clear on one point: lab-grown diamonds are not here to replace natural diamonds, but to run alongside them.

"Natural diamonds will continue to hold relevance for rarity-led, legacy purchases," says Madhavan, adding, "Lab-grown diamonds will dominate everyday luxury, self-purchase, gifting, and design-forward consumption."

Over the next three to five years, the distinction between the two is expected to sharpen rather than blur. As Kochar Jain puts it, "lab-grown diamonds are not changing what diamonds are. They are changing how people relate to jewellery itself."