Curriculum Gems and Jewellery
Gems and Jewellery
The glittering economics of stones and gold: India's gems and jewellery industry, the diamond pipeline, De Beers and the cartel, lab-grown diamonds, Jaipur's coloured gems, karigars and making charges, gold import duties and smuggling, organised jewellery retail, the Nirav Modi fraud, conflict diamonds and sanctions on Russian stones.
- India's Gems and Jewellery Industry How big India's gems and jewellery industry is, how it spans diamond cutting, gold jewellery and coloured stones, and why it matters for exports and jobs. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Diamond Pipeline: From Mine to Ring How a diamond travels from mines in Africa, Russia and Canada through trading hubs, cutting centres and jewellers to customers, and where value is added. 📄 Read-aloud
- De Beers and the Diamond Cartel How De Beers controlled most of the world's diamond supply for much of the 20th century, created the "a diamond is forever" campaign, and how its grip weakened. 📄 Read-aloud
- Lab-Grown Diamonds How diamonds grown in factories became chemically identical to mined ones at a fraction of the price, and why India became a major producer. 📄 Read-aloud
- Jaipur's Coloured Gemstones How Jaipur became a world centre for cutting emeralds, rubies and other coloured stones, and how its craft traditions and trading networks work. 📄 Read-aloud
- Karigars and Making Charges How Indian gold jewellery is priced with gold value plus making charges, who the karigars (artisans) are, and why their pay is low despite high jewellery prices. 📄 Read-aloud
- Gems and Jewellery: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on India's gems industry, the diamond pipeline, De Beers, lab-grown diamonds and Jaipur. 5 questions
- Gold Import Duties and Smuggling How India's gold import duties affect the trade deficit, smuggling and jewellery prices, and why the 2024 duty cut from 15 to 6 percent reduced smuggling. 📄 Read-aloud
- Tanishq and Organised Jewellery Retail How Tata's Tanishq and other chains grew by selling trust through purity guarantees, and why organised jewellers are taking share from family-run shops. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Nirav Modi Fraud How jeweller Nirav Modi and associates used fraudulent bank guarantees from Punjab National Bank to raise billions of dollars, and what it revealed about bank controls. 📄 Read-aloud
- Conflict Diamonds and the Kimberley Process How diamonds funded civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola and elsewhere, how the 2003 Kimberley Process certification scheme tries to stop "blood diamonds", and its limitations. 📄 Read-aloud
- Sanctions on Russian Diamonds How G7 countries banned Russian diamonds from 2024, why this was hard to enforce given Surat's role, and what it meant for Indian cutters. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Future of Gems and Jewellery How lab-grown diamonds, traceability, branding and new markets will shape India's gems and jewellery industry, and a recap of the module. 📄 Read-aloud