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A Century That Started With One Decision

Sometime around 1915–16, a young man from a land-owning family in Haryana left behind the certainty of inherited fields and followed his instinct toward precious stones. Tibarumal Gupta arrived in Hyderabad—then the seat of Nizam power, already legendary as the City of Pearls—and by 1920 had formally launched a jewellery firm. It was a decision that, looking back, reshaped what three generations of a family would spend their lives building.

The first generation earned its reputation quickly. Tibarumal Gupta became known for lavishly designed, hand-crafted pieces that drew the attention of Hyderabad’s elite, and eventually the Nizam of Hyderabad himself became his patron. The Nizam’s court had an appetite for jewellery that was intricate, layered, and unmistakably grand—and Tibarumal’s work met that standard. The firm’s motto, “Trust is Our Tradition”, was not a marketing line; it described the actual nature of the relationship between the jeweller and his clients.

The second generation, led by Ram Bharos Gupta, carried that trust into post-independence Hyderabad. The Nizam’s court had dissolved, but the city’s appetite for fine jewellery had not. Ram Bharos served a new class of patrons—the post-independence elites of Charminar—while keeping the firm’s core commitment to handcrafted quality intact. The brand moved with the city itself, eventually relocating from the old lanes near Charminar to Basheerbagh, and later to Banjara Hills, where Hyderabad’s wealthy had begun to concentrate.

What Pankaj Gupta Inherited—and What He Changed

In 1988, the stewardship of the family business passed to Pankaj Gupta. He was, by that point, already steeped in the work. Growing up inside a jewellery house means absorbing things that cannot be formally taught: the weight of a well-set stone, the difference between a design that merely looks expensive and one that actually holds together over decades of wear, the way a customer’s trust is built over years and lost in a single bad transaction.

Pankaj is a third-generation bespoke jeweller, designer, manufacturer, and retailer—a combination of roles that is rarer than it sounds. Most jewellery businesses at scale separate design from manufacturing, or retail from production. Pankaj’s involvement across all four functions probably explains why Tibarumal’s design identity stayed coherent across so many decades of market change. Under his creative direction, the firm continued producing handcrafted jewellery inspired by classic Indian and Nizami aesthetics, even as competitors shifted toward mass-produced lines.

But Pankaj also understood that the Hyderabad market had changed in ways his grandfather could not have anticipated. The city had become, as he put it, something like a mini-India—home to Marwaris, Telugus, Gujaratis, Sindhis, and communities from across the subcontinent. Jewellery demand here reflects a wide range of regional styles, and Tibarumal’s strength was that it was never limited to South Indian designs alone. That breadth of aesthetic vocabulary, built across generations, became a competitive advantage.

Over roughly 28 years of hands-on involvement, Pankaj developed a close understanding of fine gold and diamond jewellery and the preferences of discerning patrons. He also conceived Tiraa by Tibarumal Jewels—a boutique format offering limited-edition contemporary and traditional jewels across age groups—as a way of ensuring the brand moved with the times without abandoning what made it distinctive.

The Decision to Build Elevé Diamonds

Heritage businesses face a particular kind of pressure. The trust accumulated over a century is an asset, but it is also a constraint—customers expect consistency, and any major pivot risks alienating the people who have supported the brand for decades. Pankaj’s decision to enter the lab-grown diamond market was, in that sense, a considered one rather than a reactive one.

Elevé Diamonds launched in 2025 as a next-generation diamond jewellery brand from the house of Tibarumal Jewels, with its flagship showroom opening in Kokapet, Hyderabad. The brand was conceived as an extension of the trust Tibarumal had built over generations—not a departure from it. As Pankaj has described it, the goal was to blend the family legacy with modern style and purpose, connecting with today’s customer while honouring the past.

The product strategy reflects that thinking directly. Elevé’s diamonds are CVD-grown, precision-cut, and IGI-certified—meaning every stone comes with independent verification of its quality. The settings are handcrafted by artisans trained within Tibarumal’s design tradition, which means the technology of the diamond is modern but the artistry around it is human and heritage-driven. No piece is mass-produced. Each one is designed to be unique.

At launch, Elevé unveiled the Charminar Collection—a tribute to Hyderabad’s architectural identity, designed by Pankaj Gupta himself. The collection captured the spirit of the city in diamond form, and it signalled something important about how Elevé intends to position itself: not as a generic lab-grown diamond brand, but as one with a specific place, a specific history, and a specific aesthetic point of view. You can explore the full range of lab grown diamond jewellery at Elevé Diamonds, including rings, earrings, necklaces, and pendants that carry this same design sensibility.

What Three Generations Actually Means for a Buyer

When a jewellery brand describes itself as a heritage business, the claim is often decorative. In Elevé’s case, the lineage is specific and traceable. The founding year is 1920. The Nizam connection is documented. The three generations—Tibarumal Gupta, Ram Bharos Gupta, Pankaj Gupta—represent distinct eras of Hyderabad’s history, and the business survived each transition by adapting without losing its identity.

For someone buying a diamond ring or an engagement piece in Hyderabad in 2026, that continuity matters in a practical way. Lab-grown diamonds are still relatively new to most retail buyers, and the questions around quality, certification, and long-term value are legitimate ones. A brand backed by a century of gemstone expertise and an established reputation in the city is a different proposition from a startup with no track record in fine jewellery.

Elevé’s IGI certification addresses the quality question directly—every diamond comes with independent third-party verification. The CVD growing process produces stones that are chemically and physically identical to mined diamonds. And the handcrafted settings, made by artisans working within Tibarumal’s tradition, mean the jewellery itself is built to the standard the family has maintained since the 1920s.

The brand has also been explicit about its social commitments. A portion of proceeds supports Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao and artisan welfare initiatives—a signal that the business sees itself as embedded in the community it serves, not just selling to it. That, too, is consistent with how Tibarumal has operated across three generations: the firm’s relationships with customers have always been described as close, almost familial.

With flagship stores already open in Kokapet, Kompally, and Warangal, and expansion planned across Banjara Hills and beyond, Elevé is building physical presence at a pace that suggests confidence in the market. The lab-grown diamond category in India is growing quickly—major players including Titan have entered the space—and Elevé’s position as a heritage-backed, handcrafted, IGI-certified brand gives it a distinct angle in that increasingly competitive field.

Pankaj Gupta’s contribution to this story is not simply that he started a new brand. It is that he spent decades building the expertise, the artisan relationships, and the design vocabulary that made a credible new brand possible. The century behind Elevé is not a marketing story. It is the actual foundation the business stands on.