Shri Menon – Commerce Secretary, Shri Premkumar – Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, Dr. M.S. Rao – Ministry of Commerce, Kirtibhai, Nirupaben, Bakulbhai, Arvindbhai, Kaushikbhai, Shri Rajendrakumar Shah, Mr. Ramchandran, ladies and gentlemen, students,

Thank you very much for having me here today at the Inaugural function of the Gemmological Institute of India’s National Research Centre. You’ve all been privileged to see the opening and are informed by all those who’ve been here at this position, a few minutes ago, that it’s going to provide technology, education and certificates for grading diamonds, going forward.

We are all aware of the tremendous growth of the diamond industry in the last 30 years. I mean, it’s been absolutely stupendous! But going forward, our trade’s achievements will be judged not just by the value of loose diamond exports, but also by the growth in diamond-studded jewellery. That is the future!

Friends, I would like to use this opportunity of being here, to deliver three very important key messages. And all three are related directly towards building Consumer Confidence. Confidence, not just amongst the retail trade, but actually with the consumer on the high street, who eventually is the ultimate user and judge of the diamond.

So the first message let me begin with. It is to do with ensuring that Best Practice Principles are adopted through the entire supply chain. Now BPP type compliance evidencing is absolutely vital for our industry. India is a global player in the diamond jewellery supply chain. And let’s remind ourselves that international businesses now demand that their suppliers are more transparent, pay more heed to business and social ethics and at all times are environmental compliant. Let us also not forget that the consumer in luxury goods is where we compete and the consumer has the right to choose. So this great ‘Diamond Dream’ that we have, is a compelling consumer proposition, but only if there is the ethical foundation upon which to build it.

Yes, there are several corporate initiatives; may be Best Practice Principles from DCC or BEM from Rio Tinto and retailer codes from Zales, Tiffany, Wal-Mart, all of which we are aware of. And all of which are to be commended. But there is a danger that multiple single systems will lead to “audit overload.” Especially in India , which is situated at the centre of the supply chain. Now there is the CRJP, which stands for Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices, which has been formed and which seeks to establish a single Mine-to-Retail global standard. Thereby avoiding the duplication of effort. This initiative is in its early stages and its success depends on the support it receives; for it wishes to be inclusive. We hope that such support will be given.

Moving on, again on Confidence, to the second message. It is to do with Disclosure. With the advent into the market of new products, the industry must ensure the proactive use of clear, unambiguous language when describing these products at all points of the supply chain. Creative use of language, for example, calling Synthetics “Cultured’ serves only to confuse the customer. There is equipment available to the industry, like “Diamond Sure” developed by the DTC, which can detect all Synthetics. And there are laboratories such as those of the GII’s National Research Centre which will be fully equipped to engage in this field.

But Disclosure and Detection is not complete without its equally important role, which is going to be played by the third D, which is Differentiation.

Friends, let me take this opportunity to talk to you about the Forever Mark. It is part of DTC’s proprietary technology to proactively mark, identify, genuine, natural, untreated diamonds – to clearly differentiate our miracle of nature from simulants and synthetics. Developed at our Research facility at Maidenhead, outside London , it forms a key part of our Consumer Confidence strategy. It allows us to put an identification, deep inside the table of the diamond, in a manner that cannot be visible to the naked eye or indeed without a highly calibrated microscope.

It’s important from the industry’s point of view that it has access to this identification facility, which in a way not only Hall Marks diamonds, but also underpins the principles of Trust, Confidence and Reassurance – not only to the Trade, but ultimately to the end users. India is now at the forefront of the roll out of the Forever Mark and although we have launched it as a Pilot programme in Hong Kong , India will be at the centre of this process.

Let me end by saying that we should not under-estimate the need to give confidence to the consumer. Whether it is the National Research Centre or various forms of Best Practices or be it Detection, Disclosure or Differentiation or finally, the Forever Mark. We need all these inputs to work in conjunction, so that the future of India ’s Gem and Jewellery industry is secured.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us together endeavour to make our Industry like “A Diamond is Forever.”