India, Jan. 20 -- India has defined a "diamond" amid a surge in lab-grown alternatives, even as 50% US tariff weighs on the wider gems & jewellery industry.

The Bureau of Indian Standards has enforced a new terminology framework under which "diamond" is now legally reserved for natural, mined stones. The new BIS standard (IS19469:2025) mandates that all man-made stones be explicitly labelled as "laboratory-grown" or "laboratory-created", banning abbreviations such as 'LGD' or "lab-grown" in formal discussions.

The move is designed to eliminate confusion for the consumer, at a time when it's impossible to distinguish natural diamonds from lab-grown alternatives. At the same time, the standard protects the value of natural diamonds by ens...