India’s lab-made diamonds

India is ramping up sales of laboratory-grown diamonds as global demand surges. Exports could double in the current financial year from $1.3 billion in 2021-22


Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) reactor

Gas inlet
Methane and hydrogen

Plasma chamber
Process starts with “seed” – flat slither of another diamond – in reactor filled with carbon-rich gas, heated to 1,200°C

Diamond growth
Ionized into plasma, carbon atoms from methane gas stick to diamond seed to create diamond crystal

$1,500
Average retail price of one carat lab-made diamond

$8,800 Natural diamond of same size and cut


Global lab-grown diamond market volume (million carats, 2020-21)
Value $5.9 billion

China ≈3.0
India ≈1.5
Singapore ≈1.0 
U.S. ≈1.0
Europe and Middle East ≈0.5
Russia ≈0.2

India: 25 diamond labs with 2,500 reactors


Sources: Bain and Co., Bloomberg, Carat Systems, Mines to Market 
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