Lab-grown diamonds are diamonds grown inside controlled laboratory or industrial environments rather than mined from the earth. India is a major global centre for their manufacturing, processing and export.
Basic Details
Also Known As: Laboratory-grown diamonds, laboratory-created diamonds, synthetic diamonds.
Manufacturing Hubs: Domestic LGD manufacturers are concentrated in Surat and Jaipur.
Regulator: Terminology and disclosure are regulated by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Trade Data Tracker: Export figures are tracked by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
About the Technology
Lab-grown diamonds are chemically, physically and optically identical to natural diamonds — both are crystalline forms of pure carbon. They differ only in origin and formation timescale: weeks to months in a lab, versus a natural diamond's formation over a billion years or more under the earth's mantle.
Technological Concept Details
High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) Method: A small diamond seed is placed in carbon source material and subjected to extremely high pressure (about 5-6 GPa) and temperature (around 1,300-1,600°C) inside a specialised press. This replicates the natural conditions under which diamonds form deep in the earth's mantle.
Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) Method: A diamond seed is placed in a vacuum chamber filled with carbon-rich gases such as methane. The gases are ionised into plasma, causing carbon atoms to deposit layer by layer onto the seed until a full diamond crystal grows.
Both methods produce rough diamond crystals that are then cut and polished using the same techniques applied to natural diamonds.
Applications
Gem-quality jewellery, as a lower-cost, visually identical alternative to natural mined diamonds.
Industrial uses — as abrasives, cutting tools and in high-precision machining — owing to diamond's extreme hardness.
Emerging use in electronics and photonics, where diamond's thermal conductivity and optical properties are valued, such as heat dissipation in high-power semiconductor devices.
Significance
Structural Shift in Trade: According to GJEPC trade data for FY2025-26, India's polished LGD exports (18.80 lakh carats) exceeded polished natural diamond exports (16 lakh carats) for the first time.
Standardisation: The Bureau of Indian Standards notified IS 19469:2025, effective 27 January 2026, to standardise terminology and mandate disclosure for natural, laboratory-grown, treated and imitation diamonds.
Policy Push Sought: The domestic LGD industry has sought inclusion under a Production Linked Incentive (PLI)-style scheme to expand manufacturing and cut import dependence on rough LGD material; this has not yet been approved.