The downturn comes amid global economic challenges including weak demand in major markets like the US and China, ongoing geopolitical conflicts, sanctions on Russian-mined diamonds, and growing competition from more affordable lab-grown diamonds.

Despite the overall decline, the industry is seeing early signs of recovery, particularly with stabilising prices of rough, cut, and polished diamonds after nearly two years of volatility.

As per the Times of India, the days leading up to the enforcement of a new 26% reciprocal tariff by the United States saw Indian exporters move quickly, executing over $1 billion worth of exports in just 10 days. Industry experts view this as a positive signal for future market momentum.

Diamonds and Imports See Sharp Decline

Cut and polished diamonds — the largest segment of India’s G&J exports — saw a significant drop of 16.75%, falling to $13.2 billion from $15.96 billion in 2023-24. Exports to the US, in particular, were heavily impacted, plunging 36.6% from $1.9 billion to $1.2 billion.

Imports of rough diamonds were also hit hard. The value of imports fell 24.27% to $10.8 billion, down from $14.2 billion the previous year. In volume terms, imports dropped 16.2% to 1,044.34 lakh carats from 1,246.17 lakh carats.

Mixed Trends Across Jewellery Segments

Lab-grown diamonds weren’t spared either, with gross exports falling 9.64% to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion in the previous financial year.

Gold jewellery exports held relatively steady, dipping just 0.11% to $11.21 billion from $11.22 billion. Within this category, studded gold jewellery saw a 14% increase to $6.1 billion, while plain gold jewellery exports stood at $5.1 billion.

Silver jewellery exports, however, dropped sharply by 40.58% to $962 million, compared to $1.6 billion in 2023-24. Platinum jewellery offered a rare bright spot, recording an 11.79% rise to $182.75 million.