CaratIndia's polished exports fall 4.93% in value, rise 3.23% in carats
Total gem and jewellery exports reached $2.30 billion in August, up 3.14% year on year on the council's figures. Studded gold jewellery added 51.22% to $642.85 million.
Value and volume parted. India's cut and polished diamond exports fell 4.93% in value in August while rising 3.23% in volume, to 13.36 lakh carats.
If you sell polished into India's export trade: More carats moved for less money. The average realised value a carat fell 7.9%.
If you model Indian demand for rough: Volume held; the price the goods fetched did not.
What this is not: A September reading. These are August figures, published on 12 September.
| Line | August 2026 | Change on August 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| All gem and jewellery | $2.30bn | +3.14% |
| Cut and polished diamonds, value | $924.51m | -4.93% |
| Cut and polished diamonds, volume | 13.36 lakh carats | +3.23% |
| Studded gold jewellery | $642.85m | +51.22% |
| Implied value a carat, polished | $692.00 | -7.92% |
IMore carats, less money
Eight points apart. Polished value fell 4.93% while polished volume rose 3.23%, a spread of just over 8 percentage points on the same goods in the same month.
The rate fell. At $692.00 a carat against $751.51 last August, the average realised value fell 7.92%.
IIStudded gold carried the total
One line rose half. Studded gold jewellery exports rose 51.22% to $642.85 million, the largest of the four lines read here.
The total still rose. Gross gem and jewellery exports reached $2.30 billion, up 3.14%, with polished diamonds falling inside it.
IIIThe print is eight days old
Published 12 September. GJEPC's August figures were reported on 12 and 13 September, and no later monthly print has been published since.
01What would change this call+
A September print that reverses the split. One month in which value and volume move apart is a month, not a trend, and the next release tests it.
02How the series is built+
GJEPC publishes India's gem and jewellery export and import figures monthly, in US dollars and in rupees, broken into lines including cut and polished diamonds, rough diamonds, gold jewellery, studded gold jewellery, silver jewellery, coloured gemstones and lab-grown diamonds. Cut and polished diamonds are reported in both value and carat volume, which is what allows the two to be compared. The council reports gross exports, not net of re-imports, and reports a year-on-year change against the same calendar month of the prior year rather than against the previous month. Value is reported at declared export value, so a change in it mixes price and mix.
03Method · the desk’s arithmetic+
The four published figures were taken from GJEPC's August release as carried by The Hindu International on 13 September 2026 and by KNN India, with Fashion Value Chain read alongside for the studded gold line; all three carry the same numbers, which is why they are printed as corroborated rather than single-outlet. GJEPC's own statistics page is listed as the standing address for the series and is the primary the diamonds desk's own sweep failed to reach this month, which is why this print is eight days old rather than same-day. One figure here is not published anywhere: the implied value a carat. It is Carat Capital's division and is labelled as such in the key figures, in the table and in the table note, where the arithmetic is printed in full so it can be checked. The prior-year rate is reconstructed from the published percentage change rather than from a published 2025 value, and that reconstruction is stated rather than hidden. The comparative is printed on its base: 692.00 over 751.51 is 92.08% OF last August's rate and therefore 7.92% BELOW it. ARCHIVE: India's monthly gem and jewellery exports - greps of the built archive for this month's headline figures returned zero on all four. The nearest archived items are 2026-08-20, India's $100 billion by 2040 target at a 2.44% growth rate, which is a multi-year target and not a month, and 2026-08-22, India's July gold imports, a different commodity in a different month. DIFFERENT PERIOD AND DIFFERENT SERIES. NEW.
04Sources4 documents
- Gems and jewellery exports rose 3.14% to $2.30bn in August: GJEPC, The Hindu International, 13 September 2026 ↗
- India's gem and jewellery exports rise 3.14% to USD 2.30 billion in August, KNN India, September 2026 ↗
- Studded gold jewellery drives India's August exports, Fashion Value Chain, September 2026 ↗
- GJEPC gem and jewellery export and import statistics ↗
DGFT drops the RCMC requirement on exports under ₹3 lakh
The paperwork change that landed on the same export trade three days after these figures.
The trade, filed before the New York open.
Prices, tenders and the one story that moved the industry overnight. Ninety seconds.
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