Press release – India has become one of the early adopters of distinct HS Codes for both rough and polished synthetic diamonds with the Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman introducing an amendment to create a separate 8 Digit code for laboratory-grown rough diamonds as part of the Finance Bill presented before Parliament on July 5, 2019.
The new amendment bifurcates the earlier six-digit code into two categories. Henceforth, it proposes, all unworked or simply sawn or roughly shaped laboratory-created or laboratory-grown or manmade or cultured or synthetic diamonds will be covered by HS Code 7104.20.10, while all other synthetic gemstones in the same categories will come under the separate HS Code 7104.20.90.
GJEPC Chairman Pramod Kumar Agrawal said, “We welcome the separate HS Code for rough diamonds introduced by the government in Parliament. This will go a long way in strengthening the efforts of the Council (GJEPC) to monitor the two pipelines and maintain their integrity.”
Significantly, the announcement comes during the period when India holds Chairmanship of the Kimberley Process Certificate Scheme. It is clearly a reflection of the government’s commitment to play a leading role in getting the global industry to adopt and uphold transparency, disclosure and other business best practices.
