According to estimates cited by IDEX Online, ongoing sanctions against the Russian miner Alrosa and “demand from the US for cheaper goods amid soaring inflation” are the driving forces behind the fact that lab-grown diamonds currently make up about 20% of the diamonds utilized by manufacturers in India.
Ramesh Zilariya, the president of the Gujarat Diamond Workers’ Union, told the news outlet ET Now Digital that certain companies that engage in natural diamond cutting and polishing have switched 20 to 30 percent of their output to lab-grown diamonds. For the Surat diamond workers, this is creating jobs.
The report claims that roughly 250,000 of the workers who lost their jobs last month “have been able to return to work.”
Natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds are two separate sorts, and they cannot be substituted for one another, according to Colin Shah, head of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
By Deo Vuadi
