Diamond Detection and Resource Centre inaugurated at BDB

Lighting the lamp along with Mr. Vipul Shah, Chairman, GJEPC, officials from De Beers, Ms. Varda Shine, Managing Director, Diamond Trade Company (DTC) and Guest of Honor, Mr. Paul Rowley, Senior Vice President, Operations Midstream, De Beers Global Sightholders Sales, inaugurated the Diamond Detection and Resource Centre (DDRC) at Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai. The Centre was inaugurated by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and Gemmological Institute of India (GII) as a means to allow companies to be confident in detecting natural diamonds from lab-grown ones.

Mr. Vipul Shah said, “I want to congratulate Kirtilalbhai, Rajendrabhai and his team at the GII for setting up the Diamond Detection and Resource Centre within such a short span of time. The rapid action demanded of the GII was in part driven by the anxiety felt by the trade regarding reports and certain incidences of undisclosed mixing of lab-grown diamonds into diamond parcels. We are happy that GII has capacity to identify any Synthetic stone, with 100 percent accuracy.” He further added that “We, at GJEPC, condemn any effort of fudging the difference by mixing of the two products. We reassure the industry that we are on the job and will be shortly sending the draft of a declaration which has been worked out with all prominent trade bodies of the world.”

The GII is a project of the GJEPC and is sponsored by BDB, DEAL the GJEA. GII has taken up the responsibility of advising and imparting knowledge on natural/ lab-grown diamonds with an objective of promoting fair trade with full disclosures. Shri Kirtilal Doshi, Chairman, GII added that “The DDRC was set up in under 4 weeks, at the request of the Diamond Monitoring Committee of the GJEPC. We hope to reach our initial target capacity of about 15,000 stones per day over the next 9-12 months”

DDRC will cater to both small and big companies in providing detection services. It is also built to provide resources for creating awareness about lab grown diamonds and testing methods, technical., on-the-job training in detection for company staff. Along with the detection centre, the Council had formed a Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee along with trade associations like GJEPC, BDB, GJF and MDMA to understand and arrive at solutions for maintaining consumer confidence.

Chief Guest Ms. Varda Shine, Managing Director, Diamond Trade Company (DTC) said, “India is taking the next step towards growth and technology which will ensure we have the confidence of consumers in diamonds. With the commencement of this detection center, our consumers are assured of the supply chain. We assure our consumer that we will continue to invest in these initiatives and I thank GJEPC and GII for taking such initiative.”