Silver shimmered and elegance echoed through the heart of Kukatpally as Gokulam Signature Jewels, a revered name from Tenali, celebrated the grand opening of its newest showroom at KPHB, opposite Forum Mall. The star-studded launch was graced by popular actress Kajal Aggarwal, who unveiled the store and welcomed Hyderabad into a world of refined silver artistry and ethical luxury.

Promoted by Mr. Pothuri Subba Rao garu, Ms. Pothuri Lalitha Kumari, and Mr. Babu Rao garu, this new venture brings decades of design excellence and brand legacy to a cosmopolitan audience. Ms. Lalitha Kumari, who also serves as Group Director of the Tenali Double Horse Group, brings her strategic vision to expand the brand’s footprint across urban India.

Rooted in the joyful essence of “Gokulam”—the divine abode of Lord Krishna—the brand blends tradition with trend, offering jewellery that reflects celebration, beauty, and grace. Known for transforming silver into aspirational art, Gokulam Signature Jewels continues to redefine affordable luxury with meticulous craftsmanship and contemporary aesthetics.

A standout attraction at the new store is NEELA, an exclusive line of lab-grown diamond jewellery. Fusing environmental responsibility with timeless allure, NEELA offers ethically sourced diamonds that are both dazzling and accessible—ensuring every woman can find her perfect sparkle.

Adding to the excitement, the brand’s recent collaboration with international cricket icon David Warner was highlighted, marking a bold step in expanding Gokulam’s global appeal.

With this successful Hyderabad debut, Gokulam Signature Jewels is poised to expand its radiance to new markets—spreading joy, elegance, and confidence, one design at a time.

De Beers CEO Al Cook says he’s confident the US will exempt diamonds from reciprocal tariffs.He told the FT they were of “no benefit”, given that there are no US diamond mining jobs to protect, and that they would function as nothing more than a tax on American consumers.”People are confident enough that in the long term, diamonds will be exempted from tariffs,” he told the FT, indicating that an exemption may happen, but not immediately.

Cook echoed the views of World Diamond Council president Feriel Zerouki, who is urging the Trump administration to exclude natural diamonds from a tariff due to be implemented on 9 July, when a 90-day pause expires.

Diamonds, along with almost all other goods from all other countries, are currently subject to a baseline levy of 10 per cent on entry to the US, payable by the importer.

Cook, and many others, are calling for diamonds to be exempted from the additional burden of reciprocal tariffs, set at 26 per cent for India, by far the biggest supplier of polished stones, and on a sliding scale for other trading partners.

The US is the world’s largest diamond jewelry market by far, but has no domestic diamond mining industry.

“This is not about special treatment, this is about recognizing the unique structure of a global industry with no domestic production and ensuring policies support American businesses and consumers,” Zerouki said last week.

An exemption would help safeguard the $117bn US jewelry industry and protect the jobs of over 200,000 Americans, she said.

In a keynote address at the opening of the Kimberley Process (KP) Intersessional meeting, Feriel Zerouki, President of the World Diamond Council (WDC), urged participants to focus on expanding the definition of conflict diamonds, while recognizing the vital role of industry efforts to strengthen and complement the KP framework.

Zerouki acknowledged the significant contributions made by the diamond industry to reinforce the KP’s mission. Industry has not waited. We have introduced ethical standards, traceability frameworks, public reporting, sustainability principles and blockchain-based traceability solutions, she stated All of these were created to strengthen the work of the KP. But there are limits to what industry can do. Only the KP member states have the legitimacy and reach to address the gaps that no single stakeholder can fill alone.

She called on participants to embrace compromise in the pursuit of progress. “Let us not make perfect the enemy of the good. What matters is what we can achieve in this review cycle. If we succeed, we lay the foundation for more progress in the next. We owe it to the past that brought us here, the present that challenges us, and the future that depends on us,” she said.

The Dubai Intersessional is the mid-year face-to-face meeting of the Kimberley Process, hosted by the United Arab Emirates as 2024 Chair of the KP. It convenes participants and observers including government representatives from 86 countries, industry leaders represented by the WDC, and NGOs represented by the Civil Society Coalition. Together, they review progress, address challenges and advance collective efforts to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond supply chain.

The WDC acknowledges and thanks the UAE Ministry of Economy and KP Chair Ahmed Bin Sulayem for their leadership and generous hospitality.