The KGK Group is a privately held global gem and jewellery conglomerate of Indian origin, founded in 1905 in Jaipur and now operating across more than a dozen countries. It is one of the largest vertically integrated companies in the trade, with operations spanning rough diamond sourcing, polishing, coloured stone supply, jewellery manufacturing for global retailers, and minority interests in mining and refining.

History

KGK began as a coloured-stone trading house in Jaipur, the centre of India's emerald and other coloured-stone cutting industry. The Kothari family expanded the business through the twentieth century, adding diamond polishing operations in Surat and Mumbai, and then jewellery manufacturing and international distribution from the 1970s onwards. By the early twenty-first century the group had built a global footprint that included offices and operations in Antwerp, Hong Kong, Dubai, New York, Bangkok, Tokyo, Shanghai, and several African and South American centres.

Diamond business

KGK is one of the De Beers Group of Companies' Sightholders, meaning it has direct access to rough diamond allocations from the Diamond Trading Company. The group operates large-scale diamond cutting and polishing facilities in India, with capacity in Surat that ranks among the country's larger operators. It also has trading operations on the major diamond bourses including the Antwerp World Diamond Centre and the Israel Diamond Exchange. The group's diamond business is structured to serve both wholesale dealers and the in-house jewellery manufacturing arm.

Coloured stones

KGK retains its founding business in coloured stones, particularly emerald, ruby, sapphire, and tanzanite. The Jaipur operations include cutting and polishing of emerald rough sourced from Colombia, Zambia, Brazil, and Ethiopia, alongside ruby and sapphire from Burma, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Sri Lanka. The group is a member of the International Coloured Gemstone Association and participates in the trade's standard-setting processes.

Jewellery manufacturing

The jewellery arm of KGK operates as a manufacturer for international retail brands, producing finished goods to the specifications of clients in Europe, North America, and Asia. The group does not market a major retail brand under its own name in most markets. Specialty programmes include lab-grown diamond jewellery introduced over the last decade, as the group, like several large Indian manufacturers, has developed a parallel lab-grown supply chain.

Mining and upstream interests

KGK has minority stakes in mining and refining operations, including coloured stone mining ventures in East Africa, although the group's primary identity remains as a manufacturer and trader rather than a miner. The diversification reflects a broader strategy of moving up and down the value chain to reduce dependence on any single segment.

Sustainability and disclosure

The group is a member of the Responsible Jewellery Council and publishes periodic sustainability reports describing its progress on the council's chain-of-custody and code-of-practices standards. As a privately held company KGK is not subject to the disclosure requirements that apply to listed peers, but its participation in industry standard-setting bodies provides a degree of transparency on operations and policies.

Significance for the trade

For the trade KGK matters because it sits at the junction of three of the industry's largest centres of gravity: Jaipur for coloured stones, Surat for diamond polishing, and the global manufacturing supply chains that serve major Western retailers. The group's scale gives it visibility into pricing, treatment trends, and supply-side developments that inform the broader market. For working jewellers and buyers, KGK products are most often encountered as components inside finished pieces sold under retailers' brands, rather than as KGK-branded goods.