India is poised to become the most significant growth engine for De Beers, with diamond demand in the country expected to double by 2030 compared to 2024, De Beers Group CEO Al Cook, told ETRetail.
“We expect diamond demand in India to double by 2030 versus 2024, and that’s why we’re spending so much time, energy, and capital here,” he asserted.
The outlook comes as De Beers opens its fifth Forevermark store in Mumbai, which Cook describes as “the biggest diamond store that we own anywhere in the world.” He added, “India is the home of diamonds. They were first discovered here 2,500 years ago, and people have worn them for millennia. Expanding in India just feels right.”
India is already transforming global consumption dynamics. “Traditionally, around half the world’s diamonds were bought in the US,” Cook said. “But over the last four years, India has grown at double-digit rates. In 2025, natural diamond demand in India grew around 11 per cent.”
That growth enabled India to overtake China in 2025, becoming the second-largest diamond market globally.
“And we see India continuing to grow very strongly through the rest of this decade,” he added.
Cook attributes this momentum to a powerful mix of culture and economics. “Diamonds have been loved in India for two and a half thousand years,” he said.
“But what’s really accelerated demand is strong GDP growth of 6–8 per cent and the rapid expansion of the middle class,” he further added.
He noted that high-income households in India are expected to double again by 2030, calling it a great place to be a diamond company.
To capitalise on this, De Beers plans to scale Forevermark from five stores today to 25 by the end of this year, with a target of 100 stores by 2030.
“That expectation of demand doubling is exactly why we’re building stores in India as fast as we can,” Cook said.
On lab-grown diamonds, he was clear: “A one-carat lab-grown diamond costs about $50, while a natural diamond costs about $1,000. They’re very different products.”
With Gen Z accounting for 51 per cent of diamond buyers in India, Cook concluded, saying, “For too long, diamonds were from India. Now they are for India.”>
