Lab-grown diamonds have the same optical and chemical properties as natural diamonds, but they are much more environmentally friendly as the energy, cost, and resource-intensive process of mining is not required to obtain them.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Union Budget speech on February 1 announced that a research grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years to encourage the indigenous production of lab-grown diamonds.
u201cTo encourage indigenous production of lab-grown diamond seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency a research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for 5 years,u201d she added.
Video Courtesy: ET NowLab-grown diamonds is a technology and innovation-driven energy-driven sector with high employment potential, the FM said.
The grant provided to IIT for lab-grown diamonds is a positive. The segment has seen a steep 54 percent growth in exports on-year, and accounted for 5 percent of total diamond exports YTD23, CRISIL said in a statement.
Lab-grown diamonds usually cost 30 to 40 percent less than their natural counterparts of the same quality.
The popularity of lab-grown diamonds has skyrocketed worldwide and behemoths like DeBeers are also getting in on the lab-grown game.The production of lab-grown diamonds has the potential to generate R&D jobs.
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