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A Century of Trust, Then a Question

Sometime in 1920, a young jeweller named Tibarumal Gupta opened a shop near Charminar — the monument that, for most of the world, is simply an old mosque in a crowded Indian city, but for Hyderabadis, is the beating heart of an entire civilisation of taste. The Nizams of Hyderabad were among the most jewellery-obsessed royal courts in history, and the Charminar district was where that obsession was satisfied. Tibarumal became the favourite jeweller of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and the firm’s name became, in that neighbourhood, a kind of guarantee.

Over the next hundred years, the business passed through three generations. Rambharos Gupta expanded the venture and began creating distinctive designs, and Pankaj Gupta introduced modern design ideas while continuing to focus on gemstones that make the brand distinct. The business also moved with Hyderabad itself — from Charminar to Basheerbagh, and later to Banjara Hills, tracking the city’s economic centre of gravity westward.

But a century in, the family faced a question that every legacy business eventually has to answer: what does the next generation actually do with all of that trust? Pankaj Gupta’s son, Trishank — fourth generation, raised around showcases and gemstones — had an answer. And it had nothing to do with mined diamonds.

What Elevé Actually Is (and Why the Timing Matters)

Tibarumal Jewels launched Elevé Diamonds as its lab-grown diamond brand in 2025, with Trishank Gupta and Prajay Maganlal spearheading the initiative as a contemporary, design-led entity with international ambitions. The brand debuted with flagship stores in Kokapet, Kompally, and Warangal — three very different Hyderabad markets, which was deliberate.

The timing is harder to argue with than it might seem. India’s lab-grown diamond jewellery market is projected to grow at a 14.8% CAGR from 2026 to 2036, reaching nearly USD 1.8 billion by the end of that period. And in a data point that probably surprised even industry insiders, lab-grown diamond exports from India officially surpassed natural diamond exports in FY 2025-26 by 2.8 million carats. The shift from niche to mainstream happened faster than most legacy jewellers expected.

Elevé’s product approach is specific. The diamonds are ethically produced, above-ground CVD-grown, precision-cut, and IGI-certified, set in jewellery handcrafted by artisans trained in Tibarumal’s lineage. That last detail matters more than it sounds. IGI certification means every stone is graded independently for cut, colour, clarity, and carat — the same process applied to mined diamonds. Customers in Dubai or New Jersey who have never heard of Charminar can still verify exactly what they’re buying.

And the pieces themselves are identical in brilliance, certified to global standards, and crafted without the scars of mining. For buyers who’ve been told for decades that “real” diamonds only come from the ground, that’s a significant reframe — and Elevé leans into it without apology. Browse the diamond rings or diamond earrings collections and the design language is immediately clear: this is not a compromise product dressed up in ethical marketing. It’s jewellery designed to be worn and noticed.

The Global Logic: Why Hyderabad Heritage Travels

There’s a particular kind of credibility that only comes from longevity. A brand founded in 2023 can claim to make beautiful lab-grown diamonds — and probably can. But it cannot claim that its artisans were trained by craftspeople who worked for the Nizams. Elevé can.

Indian jewellers are expanding their retail footprint to serve the vast diaspora dotted around the world, and centuries-old heritage brands are opening stores in North America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the UK. The challenge most of them face is that few have broadened their offering beyond the South Asian diaspora. Elevé’s lab-grown positioning may actually solve that problem, because the ethical and scientific story behind CVD diamonds resonates with buyers who have no particular connection to Indian jewellery tradition but do care about where their diamonds come from.

Dubai is probably the most logical first international market. DMCC has been actively positioning Dubai as a global hub for both natural and lab-grown diamond trade, and the emirate has emerged as a key player in the lab-grown diamond trade. There’s also a large Hyderabadi and Telugu-speaking community in the UAE — people who grew up knowing the Tibarumal name, who now earn in dirhams and want jewellery that reflects both their heritage and their current life.

The US story is similar in shape but different in texture. South Asian Americans number around 5.4 million and represent a high-value repeat customer segment for Indian jewellery. But Elevé’s global e-commerce reach — with worldwide complimentary shipping — means the brand isn’t limited to diaspora zip codes. A buyer in Austin or Amsterdam who finds an Elevé diamond necklace online is getting the same IGI-certified stone and the same century of craft context, regardless of whether they’ve ever visited Hyderabad.

This is the structural advantage that Tibarumal’s legacy provides: it’s not just a story for the brand’s marketing team. It’s a verifiable, documented, century-long track record of quality that functions as trust infrastructure in markets where Elevé has no physical presence yet.

What the Fourth Generation Is Actually Building

Trishank Gupta has said that Elevé began as a way to serve the community that has always trusted Tibarumal Jewels, and over time grew into its own brand — a tribute to the century-old name, tradition, and legacy. That framing is honest about the sequence: the brand started local and earned its way toward global.

But the global ambition is genuine. Elevé has plans for national and overseas expansion in 2026, and early signals — the stores in three distinct Hyderabad markets, the worldwide shipping infrastructure, the IGI certification standard — suggest a brand that has thought carefully about what it takes to operate across geographies, not just across neighbourhoods.

The global lab-grown diamond market itself gives the expansion room to run. The market is projected to grow from USD 33.54 billion in 2026 to USD 91.85 billion by 2034, and Asia Pacific already dominates with a 34.54% market share. India, sitting at the intersection of manufacturing capability and a massive domestic consumer base, is well-positioned within that growth — and holds great potential to become a major international hub for producing lab-grown diamonds.

For a buyer trying to decide whether Elevé is a brand worth trusting, the Tibarumal connection is probably the most useful data point available. It means the people making these pieces have been doing this — seriously, at a high level, for discerning clients — for over a hundred years. The technology is new. The judgment about what makes a piece of jewellery genuinely good is not.

If you’re exploring what the lab-grown diamond engagement rings or pendant collections look like in practice, the store is worth an unhurried browse. The Charminar district has been producing remarkable jewellery since before most countries had an organised gem trade. That particular thread, it turns out, travels well.