(IDEX Online) – Rio Tinto’s Australian Diamonds program has launched its latest campaign in India highlighting a new range of affordable bridal and fashion jewelry from the company’s Argyle diamond mine in Australia. 
 
Mithali Raj, captain of the Indian women’s cricket team, is the official ambassador for the new campaign, helping promote the popularity of diamonds in fashion and bridal jewelry, particularly for younger Indian consumers. 
 
The jewelry collections showcased in the “As Real as You” campaign are available across 63 retailers in India, and include designs using uncut diamonds from the Argyle mine. Uncut or “chakri” diamonds as they are known in India, once the exclusive preserve of the Maharajas, are gaining popularity with Indian consumers, Rio Tinto said. 
 
Central to Rio Tinto’s Australian diamonds initiative in India is a leading-edge tracking system for monitoring the movement of Rio Tinto’s rough Australian diamonds from its Argyle mine through to finished jewelry. 
 
Vikram Merchant , director of Rio Tinto’s diamond sales and marketing activities in India said, “Today’s consumer wants to know where their jewelry comes from and the Australian Diamonds program celebrates Rio Tinto’s diamond heritage and pedigree from a clean, traceable source of diamonds. The importance of provenance in the diamond industry has never been stronger and today the biggest opportunity for change lies in developing diamond jewelry offerings that track the diamonds from the mine to the market.”