All about 5th‘C’ – Confidence

With 10 fully functional branches in India and incessantly servicing the diamond industry in all the possible way; growth, innovation and continuous progress is the ambition of International Gemological Institute (IGI) believes Tehmasp Printer, Managing Director, International Gemological Institute, India. In an interaction with Kunjal Karaniya,Tehmasp Printer gives an insight on the functioning of IGI and its courses & laboratories.

With offices in Antwerp, New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Bangkok, Tokyo, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Cavalese, Toronto, Los Angeles, Kolkata, New Delhi, Thrissur, Surat, Chennai and Shanghai, IGI certificates bring confidence when buying or selling diamonds, gemstones and jewellery around the world.Offering a diversity of courses designed for professionals and consumer enthusiasts alike, IGI School of Gemology functions from Antwerp, Mumbai, Dubai and Cavalese.IGI is the result of continuous research, support and synergy with professionals and consumers alike. It is a standard of quality for industry professionals and consumers around the globe, being theworld's largest independent gem certification and assessment institute for diamonds, coloured gemstones and jewellery.A certificate from IGI is a symbol offifth‘C’ that is most important: Confidence. “IGI is the first certifying organisation which had faith in the market. We have continuously gone to places and successfully distributed our expertise in India along with offering quality services. With our 10 branches in India, we efficiently service the entire diamond industry including manufacturers, traders, jewellers and consumers. We have almost gone beyond the line and converted the ‘absolute no awareness’ situation to ‘good-quality awareness’ situation related to the importance of certification in India. It is in itself a very big achievement for us and we shall keep servicing the industry in all the possible ways,” contentedly says Tehmasp Printer.

At the onset, when Tehmasp Printer took on the responsibility of heading IGI India, the concept of diamond certification was relatively unfamiliar amongst the traders and the consumers alike. The jewellerswere well established in the conventionalprinciple that the reputation of the jeweller was enough for selling the diamonds and diamond jewellery. But with his belief and confidence, he took on the mission of educating the gems and jewellery industry about grading of diamonds the need for certification. The result is that IGI India today has grown to a team of 200 qualified professionals who are involved in the identification and grading of loose diamonds and mounted jewellery. IGI certification has helped diamond traders by validating the quality of diamonds and diamond jewellery. Now, the tradersappreciate the augmented confidence that IGI certification brings to their customers. “The Indian market is much matured now; I can say that the metro cities have good exposure and awareness related to the importance of certification. Going to the interiors of India, the awareness is gradually building up. This is the reason why we are now moving towards these cities, to create awareness and educate the market there,” informs Printer.

Hence, with the motive of educating and servicing the potential market, IGI recently started its operations in the historic city of Hyderabad, where the diamonds originated. Going to the details, he updates, “We already have a laboratory in Chennai which serviced Hyderabad market also due to geographical proximity. But after assessing the usage, we realised that our mobile labs were running all the time, hence there derived a need for setting-up afully functional separate laboratory in Hyderabad itself devoted to that market.With the growing diamond market, the setting up IGI lab benefitsjewellers in the city, who were hitherto sending the gemstones to Chennai lab for evaluation.From Hyderabad, we also service the market of Vellore, which is a very potential market. So, we progressively move in the interiors and when we feel that the market is optimistically growing, we provide with our facility and services for that place. This is basically the technique of how we create awareness and gauge the potential markets in India, to set-up our laboratory.” The Hyderabad laboratory is IGI’s tenth such facility in India. It certifies diamonds and other precious stones following IGI’s 14 parameters, which include carat weight, clarity, cut and colour. The space also encompasses a school offering various courses on diamond design and jewellery business.“IGI had their office at Thrissur even before Chennai, the reason being thatthe place housesfew hugediamond manufacturers. Thus, we realised that is sensible to set-up the facility at Thrissur, ratherthanaltogether transacting the diamonds to Mumbai and back. We progressed the same way at Thrissur too, we had built a mobile lab there, but when we noticed that our lab is continuouslyon the job, we decided to build a laboratory”, addsTehmasp Printer.

Moving to the interiors of India, keeping abreast theintention of educating the market about the grading of diamonds and importance of certification, IGI had introduced various courses for the jewellery industry and consumers. “Wherever we go to set-up our facility, education precedes the building of a shop. When we started in India, for the first two years, we initiated with the courses, as it is necessary that the market understand about measuring standards and trading, later comes certification. Therefore, we take our institute along with us, wherever we go. For instance, Hyderabad has a full-fledged laboratory along with an institute, so both work hand-in-hand.” Talking about the designingof courses, he explains, “We tailor-make our courses fitting to the geographical markets. For instance, Surat is a market of manufacturers whereas Hyderabad is a retail hub, hence both the markets draw different requirements, and as a resultthe courses for Surat will be different from courses for Hyderabad matching the individual necessities of the place. We adapt to the conditions of the market so that the market tends to gain maximum out of the courses.” Moving ahead, speaking about the students and the method of conducting the courses, he elucidates, “For us a student is anyone who has interest in diamonds be it jewellery designing, diamond polishing, diamond trading, marketing, sales, management (related to diamonds) and more. Anyone who is 12th pass and has decent interest in diamonds can join our courses. Our courses involve practically no theory, almost everything is taught hands-on. The reason being, that the majority of the students are already working in this business, through our courses, we teach them the technical aspects and helpthem understand the trade.” About generating career opportunities, he says, “We have an alumni and the diamond trade industry keeps us updated with the requirements for which we keep forwarding them with the resumes of our students. It is a mutual gainfulexperience, wherein the students get suitably placed and the industry is benefited with trained professionals.”

Summing up the conversation, TehmaspPrintersays, “We shall continue to update our expertise and identification process. Continuing to function in the same way, we will educate the market and help in facilitating the growth of the entire diamond industry.”