De Beers bets on India’s rising middle class to fend off lab-grown diamond threat

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• De Beers targets India's growing middle class with premium diamond jewelry.
• Company plans to expand Forevermark stores in metros and tier-2 cities
• India's diamond jewellery market projected to reach $28.15 billion by 2026

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Facing an intensifying onslaught from the fast-growing lab-grown diamond industry, De Beers Group, the world’s largest diamond producer by value and part of Anglo American plc, is sharpening its focus on India, betting that rising incomes and aspirations among consumers will sustain demand for natural diamond jewellery, a top company official told Moneycontrol.

The company is pushing its natural diamond jewellery brand Forevermark as an “accessible luxury” offering aimed at India’s fast-expanding middle and upper-middle class, positioning it below ultra-luxury labels but above mass-premium jewellery chains.

“Our average price point is about Rs 1.5 lakh. It’s not ultra-luxury, but it is premium,” said Shweta Harit, chief executive officer of Forevermark. “That gives us room to scale.”

Forevermark’s average ticket size places it squarely in the mid-premium segment, which is seeing rapid growth as consumers shift away from unorganised local jewellers to branded chains. De Beers believes this migration towards organised retail creates a large, defensible market for natural diamonds even as lab-grown alternatives become cheaper and more widely available.

The company recently opened a high-street store in Mumbai and plans to accelerate its physical retail presence. It aims to open five more company-owned stores and around 10 franchise outlets in 2026, expanding not just in metros but also into tier-2 cities, reflecting confidence that demand is spreading beyond India’s largest urban centres.

De Beers has also tied up with Titan Ltd, India’s largest organised jewellery retailer, to promote natural diamonds in the country as competition intensifies across the jewellery value chain.

Incidentally, Titan itself has also begun hedging its bets. The Tata group company launched its first lab-grown diamond brand, beYon, with an exclusive retail store in Mumbai on December 29, 2025, marking its formal entry into the fast-growing LGD market aimed at younger consumers seeking more affordable and ethically positioned diamond jewellery. The company has said it plans to expand the brand in Mumbai and Delhi.

“India is a very specific market. It has a long history with diamonds, strong cultural relevance for jewellery, and a growing economy with an expanding middle class,” Harit said. These factors have helped the natural diamond jewellery market grow at double-digit rates over the past four years, a trend the company expects to continue.

The competitive landscape is also changing as large organised jewellery chains push aggressively into smaller towns, weakening the dominance of traditional family-run jewellers. “There is a clear move from the family jeweller and the unorganised sector towards branded players,” Harit said, pointing to the expansion of large chains into tier-3 markets as evidence of a structural shift.

Beyond weddings and gifting, self-purchase is emerging as a key growth driver, particularly among younger, upwardly mobile consumers. According to De Beers’ latest diamond study, diamond jewellery continues to rank highest as a status symbol. “We are seeing a rise in self-purchases, often a single piece like a ring, which aligns well with our positioning,” Harit said.

India’s diamond jewellery market, currently valued at about $18–20 billion, is projected to grow to $28.15 billion at a compound annual growth rate of about 9.2 percent, according to industry estimates, making it one of the fastest-growing large markets globally.

Certification of diamonds remains a critical part of the sector’s ecosystem, providing assurance of quality and authenticity to both retailers and buyers. In this context, Blackstone-backed International Gemmological Institute (India) Ltd, a leading diamond and gemstone certification and accreditation firm, recently listed on Indian stock exchanges after completing its initial public offering, highlighting investor interest in the foundational infrastructure of the jewellery industry. The company, a unit of the International Gemological Institute, is one of the largest independent certification bodies for natural and lab-grown diamonds and jewellery in India and globally, instilling confidence in grading and quality standards across the trade. Its successful listing underscores how vital certification services have become in a market increasingly divided between natural and synthetic stones.

For De Beers, that backdrop makes India even more critical as it seeks to defend the premium positioning of natural diamonds at a time when lab-grown stones are rapidly gaining ground on price and accessibility, turning the country into one of the most strategically important battlegrounds in the global diamond trade.