IGI: Lab-grown diamonds (LGD) deserve same grading as natural ones

Eashwar Iyer, CFO of International Gemmological Institute India (IGI), said the institute will continue to grade lab-grown diamonds using the same detailed framework applied to natural diamonds.

“I think it’s of paramount importance that consumers get that sort of in depth information, rather than just making it extremely simplistic and generic. So from that context, IGI will continue to provide 4C’s, irrespective of whether it’s natural diamonds or lab grown diamonds,” he said.

Iyer’s comments come in the wake of a major change by GIA, one of the world’s leading diamond certification authorities, which recently altered its approach to grading lab-grown diamonds.