“Digging Down Into the Kimberley Process” is a WDC newsletter series that provides insight into the international forum and the certification scheme it oversees, to educate both the members of the diamond industry and the consuming public about international efforts undertaken from 2000 to eliminate the trade in conflict diamonds.
The current edition of the series features an interview with Suchindra Misra, who was appointed by the government of India to serve as the KP Chair during 2026.
CONFIDENCE, COMPLIANCE AND CREDIBILITY
Suchindra Misra, 2026 Chair of the Kimberley Process.
APRIL 21, 2026
As they do each year, participants in the Kimberley Process will gather next month for the Intersessional Meeting, the first of KP forum’s two five-day gatherings scheduled for the year. Starting on May 11, this year the meeting will be hosted in the Indian city of Mumbai. Managing proceedings will be 2026 KP Chair, Suchindra Misra, the senior Indian civil servant who assumed office at the beginning of the year.
2026 is the third year in which the KP Chair has been held by an Indian government appointee. The country previously served in position in 2008 and 2019. It is the only nation to have held the post three times.
With 33 years in government, Mr. Misra has rich and varied experience, handling policy and regulatory matters in the areas of public finance, public procurement, banking, insurance and other financial institutions. During this period, he also served on the boards of directors of commercial banks, insurance companies and other bodeis in the Indian financial sector.
Mr. Misra is a graduate of a prestigious business school in India, and briefly worked in the private sector before joining public service.
Now three months into office and ahead of the Intersessional in May, Mr. Misra spoke with the WDC Newsletter about his perspective of the Kimberley Process in 2026, what India intends to contribute during its year in office, and the relevancy of the international certification scheme 23 years after it was first introduced.
To what degree is the KP Chair able to mold the focus and character of the Kimberley Process? And in that respect, how does India intend steering the KP during its current terms as KP Chair?
In an organization with multiple and varied stakeholders from around the world that works through consensus, the Chair’s role is fundamentally to listen to various opinions, build consensus on organizational priorities, and facilitate action. While the Chair can propose priorities, the direction of the Kimberley Process is always shaped by the collective will of its Participants.
India approaches this responsibility with a spirit of service, recognizing that our role is to serve the consensus of the KP family.
As the world’s largest cutting and polishing hub, India brings a perspective that connects producer and consumer interests. Our intention is to place forward-looking ideas on the table — such as strengthening Confidence, Compliance, and Credibility — while ensuring that all discussions remain open, inclusive, and rooted in the shared interests of governments, industry and civil society
The ultimate aim is making the KPCS a stronger, more trusted certification system. In this endeavor we look forward to the support and consensus of the KP family.
As the KP Chair, India is emphasizing the need to reaffirm the Kimberley Process as a credible, consensus-driven mechanism. What is it in the KP’s existing structure that retains its relevance in a world shaped by changing consumer expectations, traceability demands and geopolitical complexity, and what needs to evolve so that it able to continue its mission?
The Kimberley Process is relevant because it represents a genuine and hard-won achievement of international governance: a rules-based, multilateral framework that has demonstrably succeeded in separating conflict diamonds from the legitimate trade. Its tripartite architecture — uniting governments, industry and civil society, within a single mechanism — remains a model that few multilateral initiatives can match.
At the same time, we must recognize that the world in which the KP operates has changed. Consumer expectations have risen, traceability has moved from aspiration to requirement, and the reputational expectations placed on natural diamonds have never been greater. KP must evolve to meet these realities, not at the expense of its core mandate, but in service of it.
To continue its mission, the KP needs to consider how it can strengthen digital communication in its work, address emerging risks like financial integrity, and develop traceability standards that add rigor to the certification system — corresponding to the three Cs of Confidence, Compliance, and Credibility respectively.
These are conversations we wish to pursue, with the hope to evolve a broad consensus which can ensure visible progress in the current year and sustained effort thereafter.
You highlighted the importance of promoting KP compliance as agent for consumer confidence. How can the Kimberley Process better communicate its role to luxury brands and end consumers, so that compliance becomes a tangible source of value — and not just a regulatory requirement?
KP compliance is not merely a procedural formality — it is an assurance given by member governments that a diamond has entered the legitimate supply chain free from the taint of conflict. It should be KP’s endeavor to ensure that this assurance is suitably conveyed at every point in the value chain, including at the moment a consumer makes a choice.
Bridging the gap between certification and consumer confidence is a continuous process which has to be addressed through communication and increased visibility. India’s Chairmanship is prioritizing the use of digital technologies to make the KP certificate more visible and more meaningful — at the point of retail, across the supply chain, and within the broader public narrative around natural diamonds. India is committed to ensuring the KP’s work is communicated with the clarity and reach it deserves.
KP’s authority rests precisely on its character as a rigorous, rules-based intergovernmental mechanism. We look forward to working with the KP family to pursue a coordinated approach that makes compliance a mark of integrity, that luxury brands and consumers can recognize, rely on, and value.
India has introduced the principle of the 3Cs – Confidence, Compliance and Credibility – as guiding principles for 2026. What concrete actions do you envision under this framework to strengthen the global perception of natural diamonds?
The three Cs — Confidence, Compliance, and Credibility — constitute the strategic framework proposed by India to help focus our collective efforts during the 2026 Chairmanship. These find operational expression in three priority areas: digital communication, financial integrity, and traceability standards. They are the substantive priorities around which India is structuring the KP’s work this year.
To give these themes the rigor and attention they require, India is convening a dedicated forum on the margins of the Intersessional. It is designed to provide substantive expert inputs from KP Participants, industry, and technology partners that can inform the KP’s formal processes. It is designed to generate ideas and provide useful inputs for the broader KP dialogue.
We hope that there will be visible progress under each of the three Cs, which will convey that KP is an institution that actively strengthens itself and that it is equal to the trust placed in it by governments, industry, and the consumers it ultimately serves.
In an organization with multiple and varied stakeholders from around the world that works through consensus, the Chair’s role is fundamentally to listen to various opinions, build consensus on organizational priorities, and facilitate action. While the Chair can propose priorities, the direction of the Kimberley Process is always shaped by the collective will of its Participants.
India approaches this responsibility with a spirit of service, recognizing that our role is to serve the consensus of the KP family.
As the world’s largest cutting and polishing hub, India brings a perspective that connects producer and consumer interests. Our intention is to place forward-looking ideas on the table — such as strengthening Confidence, Compliance, and Credibility — while ensuring that all discussions remain open, inclusive, and rooted in the shared interests of governments, industry and civil society
The ultimate aim is making the KPCS a stronger, more trusted certification system. In this endeavor we look forward to the support and consensus of the KP family.
The Kimberley Process is unique in that it brings together governments, industry, and civil society. How can this tripartite structure be better leveraged to engage downstream actors — particularly luxury brands and retailers — who are increasingly central to consumer trust?
The tripartite structure of the Kimberley Process is its most distinctive feature and its biggest strength. The forum India is convening at the Intersessional is designed as a platform for engagement among government officials, industry representatives, technology partners and civil society partners to better understand the substantive issues involved. Effective policy must be grounded in market realities, and market actors must understand the governance environment within which they operate.
We also intend to use this forum to deepen KP’s engagement with downstream entities — luxury brands and retailers who communicate the value of responsibly sourced diamonds to end consumers. Their perspective is not peripheral to the KP’s mission; it is essential to its effectiveness.
We see this as an ongoing process — one that will require sustained effort from both sides. We hope this forum can begin laying the groundwork for more sustained downstream engagement, ensuring that the KP’s message reaches beyond governments and industry associations to the brands and businesses that shape how consumers understand and value natural diamonds.
In a context where the diamond industry faces both reputational challenges and increased competition, what role do you see the Kimberley Process playing in protecting and strengthening the narrative of natural diamonds globally, particularly as a resource that has the capacity to contribute substantially to the development of countries and societies in which it is mined, cut and polished?
The Kimberley Process is an intergovernmental certification scheme, and this makes it the most powerful foundation available for a credible narrative about natural diamonds.
The story of natural diamonds is one of development, employment, and economic dignity for millions of people across Africa, India, and other parts of the world. When a natural diamond is KP compliant, it carries the assurance that it has contributed to legitimate livelihoods and stability for mining and manufacturing communities around the world.
India’s responsibility as Chair is to ensure that the KP’s certification system remains robust, transparent, and commands full confidence — because it is only on that foundation that the broader narrative of natural diamonds can be told with authority. To this end we are committed to reinforcing its rules-based character, expanding its visibility, and demonstrating through concrete action that the KP is an institution equal to the challenges of today’s market.
India will work with all KP partners to ensure that the KP continues to serve as the indispensable, credible guarantor of the natural diamond’s integrity.
The tripartite structure of the Kimberley Process is its most distinctive feature and its biggest strength. The forum India is convening at the Intersessional is designed as a platform for engagement among government officials, industry representatives, technology partners and civil society partners to better understand the substantive issues involved. Effective policy must be grounded in market realities, and market actors must understand the governance environment within which they operate.
We also intend to use this forum to deepen KP’s engagement with downstream entities — luxury brands and retailers who communicate the value of responsibly sourced diamonds to end consumers. Their perspective is not peripheral to the KP’s mission; it is essential to its effectiveness.
We see this as an ongoing process — one that will require sustained effort from both sides. We hope this forum can begin laying the groundwork for more sustained downstream engagement, ensuring that the KP’s message reaches beyond governments and industry associations to the brands and businesses that shape how consumers understand and value natural diamonds.