An institute dealing with diamonds in India has launched an online system to verify the diamond grading documents.

The Indian Diamond Institute (IDI), based in Surat, a major town for diamond industry in the country, has taken the initiative to start the online service for verifying the diamond grading documents.

Grading documents are certificates that consumers get when they buy diamonds from jewellers. Officials of the Institute said the new online grading system will allow consumers from across India to validate diamonds they have purchased.

According to the Institute's Executive Director K K Sharma, the online grading of diamonds will provide a stamp of authenticity to consumers.

"So far the diamonds have been graded by the laboratories; but they are inconsistent in their work. So that is why the Institute has decided to step in to verify the diamond grading report," Sharma told Commodity Online.

He said the exercise would 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.

Consumers can access the new facility from the institute's web site www.diamondinstitute.net/.

What 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.

Sharma said the Institute has been 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 United States.

India is one of the largest importers of diamonds in the world as the country emerged as a major hub for processing of cut and polished diamonds.

India imported $1986.53 million worth of cut & polished diamonds during the financial year 2006-07. And the country processed about 58 per cent (worth $10.84 billion) of the world's polished diamonds (worth $18.72 billion) in 2006.