This year’s Budget shines special attention on laboratory-grown diamonds, or LGDs. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the sector has high employment potential. A number of schemes to promote their research and development in India have been announced.

What are laboratory-grown diamonds?

LGDs are manufactured in laboratories, as opposed to naturally-occurring diamonds. But the chemical composition and other physical and optical properties of the two are the same. LGDs are manufactured in laboratories, as opposed to naturally-occurring diamonds.

But the chemical composition and other physical and optical properties of the two are the same. LGDs are mostly manufactured through two processes –  

1. High pressure, high temperature (HPHT) method

2. or Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) method 

Both these methods of growing diamonds artificially begin with a seed, which is a slice of another diamond. In the HPHT method, the seed, along with pure graphite carbon, is exposed to temperatures around 1,500 degrees Celsius and extremely high pressure. 

In the CVD method, the seed is heated to around 800 degrees Celsius inside a sealed chamber filled with a carbon-rich gas. The gas sticks to the seed, gradually building the diamond.

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Reporting: Priyali Prakash

Voiceover & Production: Abhinaya Sriram