Rio Tinto has launched a new range of affordable bridal and fashion jewellery studded with Australian Diamonds specially for the Indian market. The new collections, which are available at 63 retailers across India, have been showcased in a campaign titled “As Real as You”.

Mithali Raj, captain of the Indian women’s cricket team is the official ambassador for the new campaign, helping promote the popularity of diamonds in fashion and bridal jewellery, particularly for younger Indian consumers. 

Raj said, “Diamonds were once only accessible to kings and queens and Hollywood royalty. A campaign such as this makes these sought-after diamonds far more affordable to a broader range of consumers across India.”  

The jewellery collections also include designs using uncut diamonds from the Argyle mine. Uncut or “chakri” diamonds as they are known in India, once the exclusive preserve of the Maharajas, are gaining continued popularity with Indian consumers. 

Under the Rio Tinto’s Australian diamonds initiative in India, the jewellery can also be tracked using a leading-edge system that monitors the movement of the rough from the Argyle mine through to finished jewellery. 

Vikram Merchant, director of Rio Tinto’s diamond sales and marketing activities in India said, “Today’s consumer wants to know where their jewellery comes from and the Australian Diamonds programme celebrates Rio Tinto’s diamond heritage and pedigree from a clean, traceable source of diamonds.” 

Stating that the importance of provenance in the diamond industry has never been stronger, Merchant added, “Today the biggest opportunity for change lies in developing diamond jewellery offerings that track the diamonds from the mine to the market.”