SVAR’s EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SRIRAM NATARAJAN, GIA INDIA ABOUT THE LATEST UPDATES ON GIA’s OFFERINGS

7th August 2022

Sriram Natarajan, Managing Director of GIA India, talks about the latest updates on GIA’s offerings and how they will help advance GIA’s consumer protection mission.

Sriram Natarajan talks to SVAR about the latest updates on GIA’s offerings and how they will help advance GIA’s consumer protection mission.

Can you please tell us about the GIA Source Verification Service (SVS)? How will it contribute to the gem and jewellery industry and what has the industry feedback?

Throughout its 90-year history, GIA has worked to ensure public trust in gems and jewellery. The GIA® Source Verification Service (SVS) is a step in that direction. Backed by our commitment to consumer protection, the GIA® Source Verification Service is ready to provide verified diamond source information to address increasing consumer demand and government interest in transparency and traceability across the diamond supply chain.

Diamond manufacturers are carefully vetted by an independent auditing firm before they can participate in the GIA® Source Verification Service. The auditors confirm that the manufacturers can successfully track a diamond from receipt of the rough diamond through the entire manufacturing process. Only polished natural diamonds with verified source documentation, including Kimberley Process certificates and invoices, from vetted manufacturers are eligible for the verification service at this time. GIA plans to add laboratory-grown diamonds to the service in the near future. Participating manufacturers will also be regularly audited to ensure continued adherence to the service guidelines. The disclosed source information is available in GIA’s online Report Check service.

Leading diamond manufacturers began submitting polished diamonds for the new GIA® Source Verification Service in early July. GIA-graded diamonds with verified source country information will be available as the first submissions are returned and as more manufacturers join the program.

The disclosed information is presented in a tab on GIA Report check. See this sample report on GIA Report Check – report number 2225529493. © GIA.

GIA has recently announced that it will be taking all reports digital, and there has been a lot of positive feedback from the industry about this initiative. Tell us more about this.

GIA will be converting all our paper reports to digital form by 2025. This transformation will begin with GIA’s most popular report, the GIA Diamond Dossier®, which will go digital by January 2023. The new digital version of the report will deliver the same trusted diamond information in a format that is more secure, convenient and sustainable than ever before.

All GIA reports will also be accessible via the new GIA App. GIA’s comprehensive digital offering will also feature a new inscription matching service, enabled by the innovative GIA Match iD™ instrument. Engineered to pair seamlessly with the new GIA App, the GIA Match iD captures a diamond’s inscription image and links the diamond to its secure GIA report using proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Fueled by GIA’s mission to protect the public trust, this important transformation allows GIA to offer consumers a truly modern and engaging experience while helping our industry progress toward a more sustainable future.