Beyond Gold: India's Evolving Jewlery market

India's domestic jewelry market is no longer just a story about gold.

Yes, gold-buying occasions in the Hindu calendar, along with the important wedding seasons, are still major drivers of demand.

But there is a distinct shift away from traditional heavy, plain-gold pieces toward lighter, studded and diamond-led designs, as well as investment-only products such as bars, coins and digital gold.

Gold remains central to India's jewelry market, but its role is changing.

Titan's jewelry division, with more than 1,200 stores, reported 35% growth in studded jewelry sales, primarily gold set with diamonds or other gemstones, in FY2025-26, the financial year ended March 2026.

Kalyan Jewellers, another major retailer, reported 36% year-over-year growth in studded jewelry revenue in Q1 FY2027, the quarter ended June 2026.

The shift is being driven mainly by younger, urban consumers, especially women buying jewelry for themselves, as well as by organized retailers responding to high gold prices and changing buying habits.

Consumers are opting for pieces containing less gold. In many cases, they are choosing 18-karat and even 9-karat jewelry instead of 22-karat pieces, while placing greater value on design, wearability and gemstone content.

Gen Z and Millennials, essentially consumers in their teens through early forties, account for 86% of India's natural diamond jewelry market by value.

Generational share of India's natural diamond jewelry market value, 2025

For earlier generations in India, jewelry was often bought on the occasions mentioned above, including Diwali, the festival of lights; Dhanteras, the main gold-buying day that precedes it; and the spring festival of Akshaya Tritiya. Purchases were closely linked to weddings, family gifting, inheritance and wealth preservation.

Young Indians today are not like their parents. They have more purchasing power, and they want jewelry they can wear, rather than pieces kept away and brought out only on special occasions.

The jewelry market is growing. It was estimated at $90 billion to $95 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $130 billion to $150 billion by FY2028-29.

But more significant is the shift away from traditional, fragmented supply chains.

More than half of India's manufactured jewelry is still made by karigars, skilled artisans who often work in small workshops and supply family-run stores selling traditional designs to local customers.

But brands such as Tanishq, Malabar, Kalyan, Joyalukkas and Senco are changing the jewelry-buying landscape as they expand and customers embrace new styles and fashions.

India's so-called organized jewelry retail sector accounted for about 37% of the market in 2024, but that share is forecast to rise as high as 47% by 2029.

Three other points are worth noting. First, women are buying more jewelry, especially diamonds, for themselves to mark personal milestones, career achievements, anniversaries and birthdays. In the past, many women relied more heavily on gifts from husbands or family members.

Second, younger consumers are prepared to spend. The average Gen Z spend is estimated at Rs 198,000 per piece, or just over $2,000. They know what they want and are prepared to spend accordingly.

Third, they are still buying natural stones. There is a paradox here. Gen Z and Millennials may be more open to modern designs, self-purchase and diamonds for everyday rather than occasional wear. But that does not mean they are necessarily attracted by the clear price advantage of lab grown diamonds.

They have grown up with jewelry as part of their heritage, understanding that it has value and that this value can be passed from one generation to the next.

So although younger consumers are buying more adventurously than those before them, they still want the jewelry they buy to be jewelry that matters.

Lab grown diamonds are making inroads, admittedly, but slowly and unevenly. India's polished lab grown diamond exports have overtaken natural diamonds by volume, with 1.3 million carats of lab grown diamonds exported in March 2026 compared with 1.2 million carats of natural diamonds. This shows how deeply the lab grown supply chain has penetrated Indian manufacturing.

But that does not necessarily reflect the preferences of domestic jewelry consumers. Many Indian jewelers continue to place natural diamonds at the center of their businesses. Indian suppliers often make this preference explicit, advertising their goods as natural diamonds only and stressing that they do not sell lab grown stones.

Their influence extends beyond the transaction itself. Through the designs they promote, the language they use and the value they attach to natural diamonds, jewelers help shape how consumers understand the product.

In this sense, Indian retailers and suppliers are not simply responding to consumer preferences. They are also educating consumers. Natural diamonds remain closely associated with authenticity, heritage, emotional significance and long-term value. That gives the trade a powerful position from which to defend the category as younger buyers seek more contemporary designs and greater freedom in how and when they wear jewelry.

For the natural diamond industry, this is an important advantage. Indian jewelers and suppliers continue to communicate what makes a diamond meaningful, desirable and worth passing from one generation to the next.

Have a fabulous weekend.