Positioning India as the company’s great growth hope, De Beers Group CEO Al Cook has outlined a decisive shift in the company’s global priorities. Addressing a media gathering in Mumbai on May 22, Cook said that De Beers sees demand for natural diamonds doubling in India over the next five years. 

The timing of the visit was notable: while the diamond industry has begun to show faint signs of stabilization, with selective price upticks in April 2025, it remains in a state of transition after two volatile years. Natural diamond prices had surged in 2021 and 2022, before declining through much of 2023 and 2024. Acknowledging this uncertain landscape, Cook opened the conversation with a nod to the prevailing mood across the trade.

“I am here in India at a time when the diamond market is in a flux,” he said. Demand in the United States remains flat, China will take time to recover, and the overall industry continues to tread cautiously. Within this context, Cook positioned India as the company’s great growth hope. “We actually see natural diamond demand in India double over the next five years. I believe that one day India will be the largest market in the world for natural diamonds,” he stated. 

Cook’s media interaction raised as many questions as it answered. When asked directly about ongoing concerns over pricing inconsistencies for sightholders, he reiterated the company’s default stance. “We do not  comment on our pricing. We have a very strategic group of sightholders, and we have strategic partnerships with them.” While this reaffirmed De Beers’s structured allocation model, it did little to quell speculation around midstream inequities.

On projections for 2026, and beyond, Cook offered little in terms of numbers, referring instead, to regional trends and general confidence in India’s momentum. He did, however, mention  De Beers’s “highest category marketing spend in a decade”, while declining to share the actual figure. “We do not  publish any figures,” he said. 

Exiting the Lab-Grown Business

As for the company’s broader direction, one dynamic stands out: the growing gulf between natural and lab-grown diamonds. “Lab-grown diamond prices have now fallen 90% since their peak,” Cook said, adding, “When I was in Surat, people were offering lab-grown diamonds for less than $60 a carat. I saw for myself how low those LGD prices have fallen. We, at De Beers, have just decided to close our Lightbox business. We judge our mission to demonstrate the difference between natural diamonds and LGDs as complete. So, we are closing Lightbox.”

Cook placed lab-grown diamonds firmly outside the company’s core business. “We, as a company, will focus all our efforts on natural diamond jewellery. LGDs are now a cheap and cheerful, fun, pretty commodity,” he added.

Giving an example, Cook said, “In Surat, I was shown this beautiful 25-carat, D-flawless, natural diamond. It is a natural diamond, so it is worth $2 million. If it was a lab-grown diamond, it would be worth only $2,000. So, it is  incredibly important that consumers  be absolutely sure it is  a natural diamond.”

Cook also talked about De Beers’s new verification tool ‘Diamond Proof’, a small machine, which Cook claims, can, “in three seconds, tell the difference between an LGD and a natural diamond. And if it tells you it is  a natural diamond, it is 100% correct.”

Talking about the role of technology, Cook said, “As the price of LGDs comes down, they become a fantastic enabler of technology. They can act as mini chips in 6G technology. And we are working with companies such as Bosch and Amazon, and also with the US government, to exploit the technological advantages of diamonds. De Beers’s synthetic division, Element Six, is now focused entirely on this aspect. It is keen to invest in India, and be part of India’s leadership position in semiconductors, and beyond.”

India as the Focal Point

While Cook’s comments addressed global challenges, the visit made clear that India is now central to De Beers’s long-term plan. “We are really seeing a change here in India,” he said, adding, “It used to be that we would talk about ‘from India and by India’. Now we talk about ‘to India and for India’.”

He also referred to recent discussions with Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, who, he said, has played a leadership role in global trade conversations. “Diamonds should flow freely around the world without any restrictions and without any tariffs. And I would just like to express my gratitude to the government of India, and Minister Goyal in particular, for his vision of a tariff-free exchanges and trade. If we can get a great US-India trade deal, that will be great for natural diamonds,” he said.

Referring to the growth in the demand for diamonds in India, Cook said, “Natural diamond demand year-on-year is up 12% in India. That makes India one of the fastest-growing markets in the world.” This growth underpins De Beers’s decision to reintroduce the Forevermark brand in India with a new retail format. “We will be launching it in a few months’ time. We will be starting with stores in Mumbai and in Delhi. And within five years, we aim to have more than 100 stores across India,” he said. 

Amit Pratihari, Managing Director for De Beers India and Forevermark, who joined Cook at the media briefing, provided additional details. “Our approach is a combination of both digital and physical. So, it is a truly omni-channel approach. We are going to be very cluster-based, rather than just spray and pray,” he said. The price point, he added, was designed to remain accessible. “Our average ticket size will be close to Rs 2.5 lakh. And of course, there is the higher price point, and an entry point as well,” Pratihari added. 

Cook positioned Forevermark as part of a broader marketing shift. “We are, for the first time in 20 years, launching huge marketing campaigns in India. My personal favourite is called ‘Love From Dad’. It talks about that really special moment when a daughter gets a second piercing in her ear,” he said. 

De Beers has also partnered with Tanishq, India’s leading diamond jewellery retailer. “We are training thousands of Tanishq sales staff to tell their customers about the unique and special attributes of natural diamonds,” Cook said.  He added that De Beers and GJEPC have co-created a new platform called Indra. “Indra will support diamond retailers, and diamond shops around India with the story of natural diamonds. We are going to launch this programme in August, but we have already had 1,700 retailers sign up,” he added.

Whether this India-first strategy will deliver the scale of growth De Beers needs remains to be seen. But in placing its chips on India, the company has made its intent clear: the future of natural diamonds, at least in this chapter, will be written in India.