Diamond buying may become as easy as buying a soap or a shampoo. Any doubts about its authenticity or price? All queries are just a click away. Surely, a bad news for family jewellers capitalising on the trust factor.

The Indian Diamond Institute (IDI) has started an on-line service for verifying the diamond grading documents. Grading documents are the certification which the consumers get when they buy the precious stones from the jewellers. The new feature will allow consumers from across the country to validate the diamonds they have purchased are well-graded by the laboratories.

The exercise would also put pressure on jewellers as well as diamond brands that have stormed the retail market to ensure that their data conforms to international standards which the institute intends to follow.

The institute was inspired by a similar move by the American Gem Society (AGS). The AGS has been providing similar services to validate the grading reports from the last couple of years in the US.

“For a consumer, diamond grading report means a stamp of authenticity. But what if the laboratories grading the diamonds are inconsistent in their work. Here is where the IDI would step in to verify the diamond grading report,” said IDI’s executive director KK Sharma.

Mr Sharma said consumers from across the country and abroad can access the new facility from the institute’s website www.diamondinstitute.net. All the consumers need to do is enter the relevant data from the diamond grading report which they obtain after making the purchase. The institute will reverted an authentic grading analysis of the diamonds. The consumers could match the IDI analysis report with the diamond grading report that they have.

According to Mr Sharma, diamond grading laboratories are not always consistent in giving accurate grading reports. IDI’s aim is consumer protection and that the institute is always looking for new ways to increase consumer confidence, he said.

Says Chandrakant Sanghavi, regional chairman of Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), “Consumer confidence is very important in today’s competitive age. When consumers are spending so much amount on the diamonds they are ought to be protected.”

Even the jewellers in the city believe that the new service will restore consumer confidence. Says Vinay Patel of Adorn Jewellers: “Consumers should get a fair chance to verify the diamond grading documents. The new service will help the consumers.”