New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) Promotion of research and development, setting up common facilities and skilling of adequate manpower for the lab-grown diamond industry were among the issues that figured in a meeting chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal here on Tuesday.

Currently, India contributes around 15 per cent in global production of lab-grown diamonds for which it is presently self-sufficient.

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However, keeping in mind the future potential, there is a need to maintain technological self-reliance in production of machinery and a leadership position in production lab grown diamonds, the commerce ministry said in a statement.

"Discussions on promotion of Research and Development, setting up enabling common facilities and skilling of adequate manpower to serve this emerging sector took place," it said.

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Given India's expertise in diamond polishing, it is imperative that India positions itself firmly in the lab-grown diamond sector too since the process of polishing is similar, it added.

The projected employment creation could be to the tune of 25 lakh by the year 2025, the ministry said.

Lab-grown diamonds are grown inside a lab using cutting-edge technology that replicates the natural diamond growing process and the result is a man-made diamond that is chemically, physically, and optically the same as those grown beneath the earth's surface.

Besides jewellery industry, these diamonds are also used in computer chips, satellites, 5G networks as they can be used in extreme environments as it has potential to operate at higher speeds while using less power than the silicon-based chips.

Like natural diamonds, India has proved its leadership role in the cutting and polishing of lab-grown diamonds.

India's exports of polished lab-grown diamonds were USD 274 million, USD 473 million, USD 637 million and USD 1,293 million during 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2020-21 respectively.

India exports polished lab grown diamonds to the US, Hong Kong, the UAE, Israel and Belgium.

The US accounts for around 67 per cent of India's exports followed by Hong Kong with a share of 14 per cent.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)