From manufacturing powerhouse to "brand": how should Japan read lab-grown diamond brand Mayavé's ambition

In India's jewelry industry, a company that had stuck strictly to the "maker" side is starting to move into "seller" territory. Hare Krishna Group (Hari Krishna Exports), a diamond-polishing giant with roughly $1.5 billion in annual revenue, has launched a consumer-facing lab-grown diamond (synthetic diamond) brand called "Mayavé," and trade media report the company plans about 100 stores nationwide, starting in the National Capital Region (NCR). Dravya Dholakia of the founding family will serve as CEO. The ambition it puts forward is to become "India's first global jewelry brand." For Japanese manufacturers that have a strong global presence in materials and components yet struggle to build a way to reach consumers under their own brand, this pivot is not someone else's problem.

Why a polishing giant is opening its own stores

The company behind Mayavé, Hare Krishna Group, traces back to Hari Krishna Exports, founded in 1992 by Savji Dholakia and his brothers, and is one of India's leading diamond companies. It polishes more than 45,000 carats a month and exports to 81 countries. For a long time its strength lay in "B2B manufacturing and export." This Mayavé launch marks the giant's first full-scale move into experience-driven consumer retail.

The collection is overseen by a Milan-based creative director with more than 20 years of experience, and is said to bring distinctiveness to cut, color, and setting. Against an Indian diamond market that has been almost entirely bridal-focused, Mayavé stakes out the angle of "modern luxury worn every day." This is where it draws a clear line of differentiation from existing Indian jewelry brands.

Store design: starting in NCR, leading with company-owned stores

Store rollout will begin in the NCR (Delhi capital region) before expanding nationwide. The target is more than 100 stores within the next two and a half to three years. The plan is a two-stage approach: launch mainly with company-owned stores (COCO) first, then expand into a franchise model afterward. When a materials maker pivots into retail, this sequence — keeping the customer experience and pricing in-house through company-owned stores first, then expanding footprint through franchisees once the model is set — offers a practical reference for Japanese companies designing owned-versus-franchise rollouts in India.

A single store is expected to run 2,200 to 2,500 square feet (roughly 200 to 230 square meters). According to the company, this footprint gives it nearly double the space of a conventional jewelry store, with wider aisles and floor space devoted to private, personalized service and storytelling. The idea of "using floor space for experience" rather than "packing merchandise into a cramped store" lines up with the broader trend in Indian retail of betting on experiential consumption.

Reading the aim through price points (with an exchange-rate assumption)

The reported price ranges are as follows. Yen conversions are given alongside using roughly 1 rupee ≈ 1.8 yen as a guide (a reference figure only, since exchange rates fluctuate).

One thing to watch is the unit conversion. Mixing up 1 lakh (100,000) and 1 crore (10 million) shifts the figure by a whole order of magnitude. The core band here, "80,000 to 1 lakh," refers to the 80,000-100,000 rupee zone, i.e., roughly 144,000-180,000 yen. Setting the entry band in the low tens of thousands of yen and starting from a price ordinary consumers can reach is a design that translates lab-grown diamonds' price advantage — said to run 40-60% below natural diamonds — directly into brand strategy.

Market and competitor reaction

The Indian lab-grown diamond market Mayavé is entering is in the middle of an entry rush right now. Market research firms estimate that India's lab-grown diamond market will grow from roughly $450 million to about $1.2 billion between 2030 and 2031, with annual growth expected to exceed 20%. Industry reaction can be summed up in three points.

• How serious the majors are: in December 2025, jewelry giant Titan launched a dedicated lab-grown diamond brand, "beYon," in Mumbai, firing the starting gun for entry via a standalone brand.
• Capital inflow: Dholakia Lab Grown Diamond (DLGD), from the same Dholakia family, announced in April 2026 that it had raised more than 800 crore (over INR 8 billion, about 14.4 billion yen), showing that growth-stage investment is flowing in.
• Rules becoming clearer: in January 2026, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mandated that the word "diamond" used on its own be reserved for natural stones, and that synthetic stones be explicitly labeled "laboratory-grown diamond" or similar. Clearer labeling sets the stage for brands to compete on a level footing.

The shared view in the local industry is that manufacturing-strength companies are moving downstream into retail brands en masse. Within that trend, Mayavé stands out for its ambition in declaring itself a "global brand" from the very start.

Implications for Japanese materials and components makers

What this case puts squarely in front of Japanese companies is the reality that "being able to manufacture" and "being able to sell under a brand" are different muscles entirely. Distilling Mayavé's moves into practical points for building a B2C brand in India, one action per company, gives the following.

• Convert manufacturing credibility into "price transparency." The strength of controlling the whole process from polishing onward only becomes a weapon when it is shown to consumers as an entry price with the middleman's margin stripped out. A materials maker building its own brand should start by putting into words, right at the shelf, a single message: "a price close to cost that customers can trust."
• Hand design authority to top outside talent. Mayavé brought in a Milan-based creative director. Even when the technology is homegrown, being willing to leave design and brand world-building to local or overseas specialists is a shortcut to becoming a brand powerhouse.
• Lead with company-owned stores to control the experience. Rather than rushing into franchising, first fix the "template" for service, interior, and pricing across a handful of directly run stores. Sticking to this sequence makes a world of difference in how well it reproduces once the rollout expands.

A pattern that spreads beyond jewelry

The shift "from manufacturing powerhouse to brand powerhouse" is not unique to jewelry. In cosmetics, apparel, food, and electronic components, companies across India with a manufacturing base are simultaneously moving to capture the consumer touchpoint under their own brand. If Japanese materials makers keep viewing the Indian market only as "a place to supply components," they may find local vertically integrated brands quietly taking over the downstream. Conversely, if they can get involved in building downstream brands together with a local partner, they can claim a higher-margin position than a mere supplier. This "branding of materials companies" — jewelry's equivalent of moving up the value chain — is the next frontier for entering India.

Practical information and related links

The move from "maker" to "seller" in India is spreading well beyond lab-grown diamonds and jewelry. Related examples worth referencing include lab-grown diamond D2C brand Keemti, which is drawing investor money (India's "Keemti" draws in investor money — how should Japanese jewelers read this?), and lab-grown diamond D2C brand Lukson's entry into Bandra after opening 10 stores in two years (Lukson, a lab-grown diamond D2C brand, opens 10 stores in two years, and what its move into Bandra means). How a jewelry company translates its manufacturing strength into overseas stores also comes into sharper focus alongside the case of PMJ Jewels opening its first US store (Why jewelry brand PMJ chose Frisco, not "India," for its first US store) — reading them together gives a fuller picture.

Summary: the next move

Mayavé is an attempt to convert manufacturing capability — something it already has — into a brand — something it did not have. If Japanese materials and components makers want to walk the same path in India, they should take these three moves in order: (1) prove out the pricing and service model with one or two company-owned stores locally in India; (2) leave design and brand world-building to local or overseas specialists; (3) once the model is set, expand footprint through franchising or wholesale. The realistic starting point is to check internally whether your own strength can be stated in one line as either "cost transparency" or "proof of quality."

Sources

• Indian Retailer"How Mayavé Is Building India’s Next Global Jewellery Brand"
• Wikipedia"Hari Krishna Exports"
• The Retail Jeweller India"Dholakia Lab Grown Diamond raises Rs 800+ cr"