How Tanishq is reengineering trust in diamond purchases

For years, buying a diamond in India has rested on faith: in certificates, in jargon-heavy grades, and, above all, in the jeweller's reputation.

Now, Tanishq wants customers to rely less on belief and more on evidence.

Across its stores, the brand is rolling out Diamond Expertise Centres (DXC): dedicated in-store laboratories where shoppers can examine stones under specialised equipment, test whether they are natural or lab-grown, understand clarity flaws invisible to the naked eye, and even measure sparkle.

Behind the initiative is Arun Narayan, CEO, Jewellery at Titan Company Limited. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Narayan describes DXC as the culmination of more than a decade of internal work on diamond integrity, and a conscious attempt to make transparency visible in a category long defined by mystique.

From backroom labs to the shop floor

Titan’s relationship with diamond verification is not new. For nearly 15 years, the company has operated a sourcing office in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex, packed with industrial-grade machines used to test authenticity and quality before stones ever reach a showroom.

But until recently, most of that scrutiny happened out of customers’ sight.

The pivot came three years ago, when Tanishq launched Celeste Solitaire—a patented diamond cut that uses nano-faceting to boost light performance.

Narayan remembers the internal debate clearly. “If we are saying this has the best sparkle, do we expect the customer just to take our word for it? Or do we need something they can verify?”

The answer was the Lightscope—a device that goes beyond the four Cs to measure brilliance, fire and scintillation.

“You get numbers for each,” he explains. “You actually know what the dazzle is.”

That single instrument has since grown into a multi-tool Diamond Expertise Centre, bringing laboratory-grade evaluation directly onto the shop floor. The setup examines weight, clarity, light performance, symmetry and laser markings—allowing customers to move beyond verbal assurances and see the science behind the sparkle for themselves.

At the centre is the Diamond Caratmeter, which distinguishes natural diamonds from laboratory-grown alternatives while offering transparency around weight without removing a stone from its setting. A separate clarity viewer magnifies internal characteristics against the GIA Standard Inclusion Chart, helping buyers understand inclusions invisible to the naked eye.

By translating complex gemological processes into visual, real-time demonstrations, the centres shift the buying experience from explanation to examination.

“The idea,” Narayan says, “is to move diamond assessment from abstraction to evidence.”

A travelling roadshow that became policy

DXC was first piloted not inside stores, but as part of travelling customer events across cities and small towns.

“We carried the entire setup around India,” Narayan says. “It created so much interest that we realised, this shouldn’t be occasional. This should be permanent.”

Today, about 30 centres operate across India and Dubai. The scale-up is aggressive.

“By the end of this month, we should reach 70, next month 100. After that, every store will be born with one,” he says. “It will be a default setting.”

The pandemic lesson: trust needs renewal

If the technical foundation had been in place for years, the urgency sharpened during COVID.

“Trust is integral in jewellery,” Narayan says. “But it’s also something you must reinforce from time to time.”

The company had done this once before with gold, introducing Karatmeters decades ahead of government hallmarking norms. Diamonds, he felt, required a similar reset.

“You have a certificate, four Cs, and if you trust the jeweller, you feel okay. But we said: let’s not ask for blind faith. Let’s make it visible.”

In practice, that means customers can compare stones on screen, examine inclusions through magnification, test origin, and even bring jewellery bought elsewhere for evaluation.

One visit in Patna stands out. “A customer brought something that had been lying in a corner of her house and thought it had no value,” Narayan recalls. “It turned out to be natural diamonds.”

In other cases, shoppers discover the opposite. “Both are impossible to judge with the naked eye,” he says. “But either way, the customer walks out empowered.”

" Come and decide for yourself", Narayan is straightforward when asked how Tanishq distinguishes itself in a crowded market.

“The honest answer is come to the boutique and decide for yourself.” Even craftsmanship, he insists, should be open to scrutiny.

Store associates carry magnifying glasses so buyers can inspect surface work, depth and dimensionality. His refrain is consistent: claims matter less than proof.

“A certificate tells,” he says. “DXC shows.”

Reimagining the engagement ring

Alongside DXC’s scientific turn, Tanishq has also introduced a romantic counterpoint: the Soulmate Diamond Pair (SDP) collection. Instead of spotlighting a single centre stone, SDP features engagement rings set with two diamonds cut from the same rough crystal.

Narayan frames the idea in geological time. “A diamond is the oldest thing you will ever touch in your life—billions of years old,” he says.

That thought sparked the concept.

“When two people are starting a life together, what could symbolise everlasting togetherness better than stones that were born together?”

The paired diamonds, he adds, have technically spent a billion years side by side, long before becoming symbols of modern commitment.

Claiming a global first

Narayan does not hedge when asked whether such initiatives exist elsewhere.“Both the Diamond Expertise Centre and the Soulmate Diamond Pair are the first anywhere in the world,” he says. “You won’t find this concept in global jewellery markets.”

The year ahead: reassurance as strategy

As he settles into his expanded role at Titan, Narayan says the focus remains steady rather than disruptive.

“There is no change in change,” he quips.

With volatile gold prices unsettling buyers, the company is leaning harder into exchange schemes, price-locking offers and savings programmes that allow customers to accumulate gold in grams through monthly instalments.

“Our job,” he says, “is to reduce anxiety and give people confidence to keep buying.” For a brand that once rewrote the rules of gold retailing, DXC appears to be its next structural bet: a move to replace mystique with microscopes, and persuasion with proof.

In India’s evolving jewellery market, where lab-grown stones, rising prices and increasingly informed consumers are reshaping expectations that may prove to be less a marketing flourish and more a long-term shift in how trust itself is designed.

Curious to experience the Diamond Expertise Centre yourself? You can visit a Tanishq store here: https://share.google/uwGMoFjjbcZs5lmAQ.

Note to the Reader: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Mint.