India Sets Clear Language Rules for Lab-Grown Diamonds

India has taken a formal step toward standardising how lab-grown diamonds are described in the marketplace, introducing a new voluntary code from 1 January 2026. Issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the guidance aims to bring greater clarity and consumer confidence to a segment that, while still relatively small, is expanding steadily.

Although the standard does not yet carry legal weight, industry observers expect it to be made mandatory within the next three years, in line with earlier BIS initiatives and the government’s broader consumer protection agenda.

Under the new guidance, terms such as “laboratory-grown diamond,” “laboratory-created diamond,” and “synthetic diamond” are deemed acceptable, provided they are used in full and without ambiguity. At the same time, BIS has explicitly discouraged a range of descriptors considered misleading, incomplete, or outdated. These include shortened expressions like “lab grown,” “lab diamond,” or “LGD,” as well as labels such as “fake,” “artificial,” “man-made,” or “cultured diamond.” Any use of the word “diamond” without a clear qualifier has also been ruled unacceptable.

The scope of the standard is broad, covering every layer of the diamond value chain. Jewellers, retailers, manufacturers, processors, traders, graders, laboratories, exporters, importers, and even consumer protection authorities are expected to align their terminology when dealing with natural, lab-grown, treated, composite, or imitation stones.

The move follows sustained representation from the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and consultations with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. It is intended to resolve ongoing confusion around certification and naming conventions for lab-grown diamonds, and to create a more transparent and consistent framework ahead of future regulation.