Jill Biden Reveals She Wanted to Keep PM Modi’s 7.5-Carat Diamond Gift but Returned It After State Department Valued It at $20,000
Former US First Lady Dr Jill Biden has revealed that she was personally interested in keeping a 7.5-carat synthetic diamond gifted to her by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his state visit to Washington in June 2023 — but ultimately returned it to the federal government after learning that its appraised value was eight times higher than the price stated by the Indian side.
The anecdote appears in Biden’s newly published memoir, View from the East Wing: A Memoir, which offers a behind-the-scenes account of life in the White House and the strict protocols governing diplomatic gifts received by America’s First Family. The book, which hit stores this week, has generated significant attention for its candid revelations about the personal dynamics of power in Washington.
The Diamond: A Symbol of India’s Lab-Grown Gem Ambitions
According to Biden’s account, PM Modi presented the diamond during his state visit as a symbol of India’s growing ambitions in the lab-grown diamond industry. India has invested heavily in developing its synthetic diamond manufacturing capabilities, positioning itself as a potential global leader in a market that threatens to disrupt the traditional diamond trade dominated by countries like Botswana, Russia, and South Africa.
“Sometimes little things — flowers, wine — but sometimes big ones, like the 7.5-carat synthetic diamond Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed me at his state visit — a symbol of his country’s bid to become a leader in lab-grown gems,” Biden writes in the memoir.
She describes her immediate reaction to the gift with characteristic candour: “The diamond was gorgeous,” she writes, adding that she was briefly tempted to keep it for personal use.
US Ethics Rules and the Appraisal Gap
Under US federal ethics rules, gifts received by the president, first lady, and other senior officials from foreign leaders do not belong to the individual recipients. They are the property of the federal government and must be catalogued and assessed by the State Department. Recipients are permitted to purchase such gifts at the independently assessed fair market value if they wish to keep them.
“But it wasn’t given to me, technically. It was given to the First Lady, which meant it belonged to the federal government,” Biden explains.
Modi reportedly presented the diamond with documentation stating that it had been handmade in his hometown for $2,500 (approximately Rs 2.37 lakh at the time). Biden writes that she initially considered purchasing it at that price. “The prime minister said that it had been handmade in his hometown for $2,500. He even had the bill of sale. I thought, maybe I’ll buy it,” she writes.
However, when the State Department conducted its own appraisal, the diamond was valued at $20,000 (approximately Rs 19 lakh) — a figure that placed it well beyond what Biden was willing to pay out of pocket. “Then the State Department appraised it at $20,000, so I did not,” she writes simply.
Borrowed and Returned
Instead of purchasing the diamond, Biden was permitted to borrow it and wear it during official White House events throughout her tenure as First Lady. The arrangement is consistent with established precedent — previous first ladies have similarly borrowed high-value diplomatic gifts for official functions.
“When we left office, I gave it back,” Biden writes. She adds that the diamond ring was placed into government storage alongside a vast collection of other presidential gifts. In a poignant detail, she notes: “The ring went into a warehouse along with an infinitude of other presidential gifts, many of which were simply destroyed.”
India-US Diplomatic Context
The diamond gift was part of a broader exchange of courtesies during PM Modi’s 2023 state visit, which was widely regarded as a landmark moment in India-US relations. The visit included a state dinner at the White House, an address to a joint session of Congress, and the announcement of several bilateral agreements on defence, technology, and trade.
The relationship between India and the United States has continued to deepen since then. President Trump has recently praised PM Modi as a “good friend” and indicated that a bilateral trade deal is close to being finalised. The two countries have also resumed high-level trade talks in New Delhi, with both sides keen to address the longstanding trade imbalance.
However, the relationship has not been without friction. The US proposed extra tariffs on India and 59 other countries over forced labour import concerns, a move that threatened to complicate the broader bilateral engagement. The diamond anecdote, while lighthearted in tone, nonetheless illustrates the complex web of protocol, perception, and personal interaction that characterises high-level diplomacy between two of the world’s largest democracies.
India’s Lab-Grown Diamond Industry
PM Modi’s choice of gift was deliberate. India accounts for the vast majority of the world’s diamond cutting and polishing, with the city of Surat in Gujarat serving as the global epicentre of the industry. In recent years, the country has pivoted towards lab-grown diamonds as a growth frontier, with Indian companies investing heavily in chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technology to produce gem-quality synthetic stones.
The global lab-grown diamond market was valued at approximately $24 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at over 10 per cent annually. India aims to capture a dominant share of this market by leveraging its existing expertise in diamond cutting and its cost advantages in manufacturing.
Modi’s gift to Jill Biden was thus as much a piece of soft diplomacy as it was a personal gesture — a way of putting India’s industrial capabilities on display at the highest level of American society. The fact that the State Department valued it at eight times the stated price suggests that India’s lab-grown gems may be underpriced relative to their quality — a point that the Indian diamond industry has been eager to make on the world stage.
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