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Sharp rises in cost and slowing demand are forcing diamond traders to adopt technology not only to sell diamond jewellery but also to source rough diamonds.
Israel-headquartered Segoma Imaging Technologies, which provides three dimension imaging solutions for diamond traders across the world, has set up a lab with 20 scanning machines in Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai and photographs about 100 diamonds a day.
Other labsThe company intends to open a similar lab in Surat, and has plans to mark its presence in Hong Kong and Belgium within a year.
Segoma is in the process of producing another 100 machines, which cost about $10,000 (₹6 lakh) a piece.
Once the diamond is put into the scanning machine, developed in-house by Segoma, high quality images demonstrate all the properties of a diamond – cut, colour, clarity and transparency.
Each picture with a unique code is a complete visual substitute for the physical inspection of a diamond.
Start-upFounded by three entrepreneurs, Segoma has big global diamond mining companies such Rio Tinto and De Beers among the 1,750 registered users in India, Israel and the US. It also provides a trading platform to auction scanned diamonds. The company charges between $3 and $50 per piece depending on size. Speaking to BusinessLine , Litan Yahav, co-founder and CEO, Segoma Imaging Technologies said presence in India was inevitable as the country, on average, processes eight of the ten diamonds sold worldwide.
Save costs“The diamond industry would not only save huge costs on transportation and insurance but also reduce the lead time in executing deals. It will also eliminate unwanted expenses incurred in shipping back the goods in case of rejection and open the market for traders,” he said.
In India, Segoma has tied up with the diamond certification body, International Gemological Institute.
Asked if traders would buy diamonds by seeing an image, Yahav said most of the traders, especially in India, are very professional and have been running the business for generations.
If they are not convinced, he added, the company would not have managed to photograph 4 lakh diamonds in last two years.
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