Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hosted at the White House by President Joe Biden this week for an official state visit, and as customary, an assortment of gifts were exchanged.

Among the exchanged gifts was one that Modi gave specifically to first lady Jill Biden -- a 7.5-carat lab-grown diamond presented in an "exquisite" papier mâché box, according to The Indian Express.

Lab-grown diamonds, as opposed to natural diamonds mined from the earth, are deemed to be more "socially and environmentally responsible" than their counterparts, yet are also nearly identical to the real thing and stand apart from other lower quality and less durable "simulant" diamonds like cubic zirconia.

Lab-grown or synthetic diamonds

Time magazine reported that the 7.5 carat lab-grown green diamond given to the first lady by the Indian prime minister was a representation of a relatively new but fast-growing sector of the Indian economy, as exports of the polished synthetic gems grew more than four-fold from 2018 to 2021 with sales increasing from $274 million to nearly $1.3 billion.

In fact, India accounts for approximately 15 percent of all lab-grown diamonds produced around the world -- China accounts for around 50 percent -- and the global market for LGDs, as they are known, was valued at around $22.3 billion in 2021 but is anticipated to surpass around $55 billion within the next decade.

Unlike natural diamonds, which are formed from carbon deposits deep within the earth under high pressure and heat over millions of years, synthetic diamonds are created from the same pure carbon materials and even in the same manner using heat and pressure but on a vastly condensed timeline of just a few weeks or months in a lab.

The outlet noted that LGDs are growing in popularity not just because they are so similar in form and function to the real thing, but also because they are generally cheaper to produce with far fewer emissions than naturally mined diamonds, and also avoid the all-too-common exploitation and forced labor of impoverished mine workers, including children, in diamond-rich but conflict-torn African nations.

Modi's gifts to Biden

India's News18 reported that in addition to the lab-grown diamond gifted to first lady Jill Biden, Prime Minister Modi also presented President Biden with an exceptionally rare first print edition of a book titled "The Ten Principal Upanishads."

That book is a collection of ancient Hindu religious philosophy texts that were translated into English in 1937 by Irish playwrite and poet William Butler Yeats, a favorite of the president.

The Irish-born Yeats grew up in England in the late 1800s but fell in love with Hindu and Indian culture and, as one of his final works, collaborated with a famed Indian author to translate the ancient Hindu texts, among other writings about Hinduism.

That wasn't it, though, as India's NDTV reported that Prime Minister Modi also gave President Biden a handcrafted sandalwood box that contained a number of other small gifts inside, including a silver idol of a Hindu god, a silver oil lamp, and a number of other valuable trinkets from various parts of India that were meant to honor the passage of 1,000 full moons during the president's 80 years of life.

Biden's gifts to Modi

Nor was the gift-giving one-sided, as in exchange for the Yeats book, Biden gave to Modi a signed first edition copy of the collected poems of famed American poet Robert Frost.

In addition to that, News18 noted that Modi also received a "meticulously crafted" book galley from the early 1900s, a vintage camera plus a printed copy of the patent for the first Kodak camera, and a hardcover photography book on American wildlife.

Aside from the customary gift exchange, a White House "fact sheet" also provided details on a range of other announced agreements during the official state visit that included a variety of technology partnerships, increased defense cooperation, and other arrangements aimed toward shared prosperity and leadership on the global stage.