DiamondBuzz
Project INDRA Set to Transform India’s Natural Diamond Retail Landscape
When De Beers Group and the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) introduced their collaborative vision – the Indian Natural Diamond Retailer Alliance (INDRA) – at IIJS Signature 2025 earlier this year, their mission was clear: to deepen the reach of natural diamonds in India, now the world’s second-largest diamond jewellery retail market.
Following the concept’s unveiling, INDRA officially launched at IIJS Premiere 2025 and is now gaining momentum. With leading retailers already joining the initiative and Retail Jeweller India onboard as the official trade partner, INDRA is set to become a transformative digital platform for the industry.
Designed as a comprehensive digital ecosystem, INDRA is tailored to enhance how natural diamond jewellery is marketed and sold in India. The platform offers retailers and manufacturers access to advanced tools including AI-based campaign creation, globally designed multilingual marketing templates, and a wide spectrum of training programs — from foundational knowledge to advanced diamond expertise. Real-time updates, role-based dashboards, customer engagement tools, and even store design guidance are part of its rich offering, helping jewellers elevate their overall retail experience.
One of INDRA’s core strengths is its focus on the unique needs of traditional jewellers in Tier II and Tier III cities. Market research conducted before the platform’s development revealed that while these jewellers often have a loyal customer base, they frequently lack the training, certification knowledge, and marketing infrastructure necessary to confidently promote and sell diamond jewellery. Many also struggle with product complexity and consumer hesitation around diamond purchases.
“INDRA is designed to bridge these gaps with a full-fledged digital ecosystem,” explained Amit Pratihari, Managing Director, De Beers India. “It enables retailers to establish their brand identity, access curated merchandising recommendations, connect with verified suppliers, and upskill their staff in nine Indian languages. Jewellers can also seamlessly plug their own products into marketing creatives provided by De Beers, making localised digital campaigns more accessible than ever.”


Calling INDRA a “game-changer,” GJEPC Chairman Kirit Bhansali highlighted the broader vision behind the platform. “Through marketing support, training, and strategic tools, INDRA is enabling retailers to tell the story of natural diamonds in every part of India. This initiative demonstrates our commitment to sustainable industry growth, strengthening consumer confidence, and positioning India as a global leader in diamond jewellery.”
The launch of INDRA aligns with De Beers’ continued investment in category marketing for natural diamonds. The brand’s recent ‘Second Piercing’ campaign led to a notable 20% increase in brand awareness. Building on that momentum, the latest campaign ‘Love, From Bestie’ celebrates friendships with meaningful diamond pieces. Both campaigns are part of De Beers’ overarching ‘Rituals’ platform, aimed at embedding natural diamonds deeper into India’s cultural and emotional fabric.
“This initiative goes far beyond boosting sales,” said Pratihari. “It’s about protecting and promoting the legacy of natural diamonds — celebrating their role in our memories, emotions, and identities.”
With India’s precious jewellery market expected to grow to $120 billion by 2030 and potentially reach $200–250 billion by 2035, natural diamonds are poised to become a key aspiration for the country’s expanding consumer base. Project INDRA is set to play a pivotal role in driving this growth, empowering retailers with everything they need to meet the evolving demand.
DiamondBuzz
De Beers Group Sets Out Portfolio and Organisational Actions to Support Long-Term Value Creation
Company outlines strategic cost optimisation, portfolio streamlining and operational changes to strengthen resilience while positioning for long-term growth in the natural diamond industry.
De Beers Group is advancing delivery of its business streamlining by setting out a number of planned portfolio and organisational changes to ensure an efficient cost base that strengthens resilience in the near-term while enhancing future competitiveness and retaining optionality as industry conditions improve.
Since 2024, De Beers has been streamlining its business in line with its Origins strategy to reduce costs, divest non-core assets and prioritise investment in activities that create the most value. Significant progress has been made, with more than $100 million of annual overhead costs removed from the business, the sale or closure of a number of non-core assets and significant capital and cost reconfigurations to asset expansion projects.
Simultaneously, De Beers has reinvested in natural diamond category marketing to support the industry’s efforts to grow natural diamond demand, launching new large-scale campaigns and collaborating with key stakeholders across the value chain to foster industry-wide investment. Global consumer demand for natural diamond jewellery returned to growth in 2025, while natural diamond sales increased across US independent jewellers in 2025 and into Q1 2026, led by higher value diamonds and those promoted by De Beers’ Desert Diamonds marketing campaign.
On the supply side, global rough diamond production is now decreasing, with several producers closing mines during 2026. Whilst the increasing rarity of diamonds and the emerging signs of improvement in consumer demand are likely to support longer-term value creation, rough diamond trading conditions are expected to remain challenging in the near-term due to cyclical and industry-specific factors.
Consistent with recent actions to improve business resilience, De Beers intends to pause production at the Venetia mine in South Africa for two years to reduce costs while also rephasing capital expenditure on its underground project. This will involve critical infrastructure investment to enhance the capacity and efficiency of the mine, with the intention to support future production growth as business and industry conditions improve.
De Beers is engaging with stakeholders in accordance with relevant requirements and the company’s values as it moves through this process, and will both support impacted employees and continue to invest in its community and Social and Labour Plan commitments.
This proposed action at Venetia Mine follows the decision earlier this year to pause the Tuzo Phase 3 expansion project at the Gahcho Kué Mine in Canada.
In parallel, De Beers plans to reconfigure its global operating model to refocus and prioritise resources on the core operational businesses and reduce its central corporate cost base.
Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group, said:

“In line with our commitment to focus and streamline our business, we are making a number of changes to De Beers to ensure greater business resilience in the near-term, while supporting long-term value creation. We recognise the protracted challenging conditions as the diamond industry evolves, though we are encouraged by signs of consumer demand growth in the US and beyond, particularly in higher quality diamonds.
Global rough diamond supply is falling, bringing more support to the market. The changes we are making to our business are focused on underpinning our efficiency now and into the future, favourably positioning De Beers in its leadership role.”
De Beers Group will maintain current production levels through its other operations, and previous production guidance remains unchanged.
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