Lab-Grown Diamonds : Customs Duty Reduced (Union Budget 2023)
In a recent Budget speech Union finance Minister announced that the Customs duty on the seeds used in lab-grown diamond manufacturing will be reduced.
- Lab-grown diamonds are diamonds that are produced using specific technology which mimics the geological processes that grow natural diamonds.
- The diamond simulants such as Moissanite, Cubic Zirconia (CZ), White Sapphire, YAG, and others are used to make them look like natural diamonds.
- There are multiple ways in which LGDs can be produced.
- High pressure, high temperature” (HPHT) method
- It is the most common and cheapest method.
- In this method, extremely heavy presses that can produce up to 730,000 psi of pressure under extremely high temperatures of at least 1500 celsius are applied.
- Usually, graphite is used as the “diamond seed” and when subjected to these extreme conditions, the relatively inexpensive form of carbon turns into one of the most expensive carbon forms.
- Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and explosive formation create what is known as detonation nanodiamonds.
