Disruption spurs survival: Lab-grown diamonds now half of Surat's polished exports

Key points

• For the first time on record, India has shipped out more lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) than natural ones by volume for two consecutive months.
• According to the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), gross loose LGD exports stood at 1.3 million carats in March 2026 and 1.4 million carats in April, against natural diamond exports of 1.2 million and 1.3 million carats, respectively.
• That puts LGDs at 51 per cent of export volume in March and 50.4 per cent in April—a quiet but consequential crossover for an industry built almost entirely on the mined stone.
• Almost the entire shift sits inside Surat, which polishes roughly 90 per cent of the world’s diamonds and where, by trade estimates, nearly 90 per cent of firms that once cut only naturals have now also opened LGD lines.
• A caveat about the data, however, is that GJEPC began publishing volume figures...