Editor’s Note
This article explores the rise of lab-grown diamonds, which are now indistinguishable from natural stones in quality and appearance. It also highlights their significantly shorter production timeline.
Lab-grown diamonds are visually and qualitatively identical to real ones. Meanwhile, machine-made diamonds are ready in 7 to 15 days.
The jewelry market is saturated with lab-grown artificial diamonds. They are so realistic that distinguishing between real and fake is extremely difficult. Five thousand reactors developed by IIT are operating day and night producing synthetic diamonds in several cities of Uttar Pradesh, including Surat. The situation has become such that in just four years, the price of a one-carat artificial diamond has fallen from 4 lakh rupees to 25 thousand rupees. Meanwhile, the market for real diamonds has brightened again. The result is that real diamonds have given a 15 percent profit in eight months. A report investigating real and fake diamonds…
While gold and silver are setting new price records daily, the fading sparkle of diamonds is also returning. Last year was full of ups and downs for the diamond market. In 2018, a lab-grown diamond was presented to the world for the first time. In 2020, the price of a one-carat artificial diamond and a one-carat real diamond was 4 lakh rupees.
About two years ago, the Finance Ministry gave IIT Chennai the project for reactors that prepare diamonds in labs. Then a race ensued to build them in other IITs, including IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay. Thanks to their technology, the previously extremely expensive reactor is now selling for 2 crore rupees. With an investment of 50 lakhs and taking loans for the remaining amount, thousands of machines have been installed in Surat.
These machines are also being installed rapidly in UP, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. Now supply has exceeded demand. Last month, at the world’s largest jewelry show held in Hong Kong, the announcement of giving away lab-grown fake diamonds for free with gold jewelry further battered this market’s condition. Now, even the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), which certifies diamonds, has stopped certifying lab-grown diamonds with the Four C grading. The lack of certification for these diamonds is a major reason for such a steep decline in their prices.
A natural diamond is formed 150 kilometers below the earth’s surface under extremely high temperatures over 1 million years. It comes to the surface with magma during earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. It is mined from mines up to ten kilometers deep. These rough diamonds are extracted and then cut and polished. After cutting and polishing, they are prepared in different forms.
These diamonds are prepared in labs, which is why they are also called LGD (Lab-Grown Diamonds) for short. They are made in labs in two ways: first, High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT), and second, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). This is a diamond reactor where they are produced. From these reactors, a diamond is ready in just 7-15 days.
It is extremely difficult to identify real and fake diamonds. To avoid someone handing you a fake diamond in the name of a real one, always take a certificate that clearly states ‘Natural Diamond’. Buy only from trusted and reputable jewelers who have a high-tech microscope for identifying diamonds.
— Shreyans Kapoor, Certified Gemologist, Gemological Institute
