The Bharat Diamond Bourse BDB is considering the lifting of a ban on the trade of lab-grown diamonds LGDs). "We have received representations from a number of our members...and we will discuss this [request] at the board level," said BDB President Anoop Mehta. The BDB banned the trade in LGDS four years ago, to prevent the mixing of LGDS with natural diamonds by unscrupulous diamond merchants. This phenomenon now poses a genuine threat to the trade of small and melee diamonds.
After the launch of De Beers' Lightbox jewelry line, and increasing market growth of LGDs, BDB members have been exerting pressure on Mehta and his board to allow for LGDs to to be traded.
Speaking to the Economic Times (India), Mehta said: "We are now considering approving lab-grown diamond trade because they've become easy to identify with technology advancements and adequate machines available with the trade to identify and certify them."