The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has made it mandatory from December 1 to declare the method used for producing synthetic or reconstructed diamonds at the time of export or import. This will help in speedy processing and inspection of the shipment, which in turn will facilitate trade.
Synthetic or reconstructed diamonds are popularly known as Lab Grown Diamonds (LDG). Globally, the market reached $1 billion in 2020, and the laboratory diamond jewelry market is expected to rapidly rise to $5 billion by 2025 and above $15 billion by 2035.
“In terms of the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations, 2018 and Shipping Bill (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations, 2019, it has been decided to enable the additional qualifications/identifiers to be declared at the time of filing of import/export declarations with effect from December 1, 2024,” a CBIC circular said.
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Official data from the Gem and Jewelery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) shows that LDG exports have grown by more than 100 percent in 2021-2022. Growth continued in 2022-2023, with export growth of 28 percent. However, in 2023, exports of lab-grown diamonds fell for the first time. Gross exports fell 16.5 per cent, falling to $1,402 million (₹11,611 crore) from $1,680 million (₹13,468 crore) in 2022-2023. People involved in the trade said the value of lab-grown diamond exports has fallen, but volumes in terms of carats have increased. The only thing that has fallen since the start of LGD operations is the price per carat. It is a non-monopolized company and therefore a value adjustment takes place.
“Providing additional qualifications would improve the quality of assessment and intervention and increase facilitation,” the circular added. It has listed three qualifications for lab Grown Diamond -Chemical Vapor Deposition, High Pressure-High Temperature and others – that need to be explained.
The circular recalled that a circular issued in 2020 advised importers to voluntarily provide the full description of imported goods and certain additional qualifications for imported items such as scientific names, IUPAC names, brand names, etc., as applicable, in order to reduce the number of inquiries and improve import efficiency. research. Among those who are imported/exported, it is noted that in the case of synthetic or reconstructed diamonds, the information currently provided by the importers/exporters of these products is inadequate and does not provide the method used for the production of these products, resulting in insufficient inputs for the production of these products. devising policies, technical body certifications for assessment, etc. negatively impacting cargo clearance time.
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Reviewing the matter, it is noted that the information contained in import/export declarations can be improved by providing the method used for producing these products, thereby effectively avoiding queries and increasing efficiency in assessment and facilitation increased, according to the circular.
The gems and jewelery sector plays an important role in the Indian economy and contributes around 9 percent of India’s total merchandise exports. Over the past decade, there have been several positive developments in the gemstone and jewelry sector worldwide. One of the most important technological developments in this sector is laboratory-grown diamonds (LGD).
In addition to the jewelry industry, lab-grown diamonds are used in computer chips, satellites and 5G networks, as they can be used in extreme environments due to their potential to operate at higher speeds and consume less power than silicon-based chips. LGD has extensive applications in defense, optics, jewelry, thermal and medical industries.
