How Dubai Governs Its Gold

Dubai’s high standard of gold quality and trade transparency combined with a jaw-dropping 98% compliance level, makes a perfect case study for how India needs to emulate the best practices that lures buyers from world over to the ‘City of Gold’

HUID: Paralyzed by incapacity

The one clarity about hallmarking and HUID at present is that there is none. Here’s the long and short of the HUID capacity constraint.

Mozambican masterpieces by FURA

Rubies are rarer by far than diamonds — and some of the finest rubies today come from Mozambique. Mindful of the opportunities, FURA Gems, a fast-moving young mining company, is resolute in expanding the ruby market even as it gets ready to hold its inaugural ruby auctions in Jaipur this month.

HUID: India's quest for GOLD PURITY EXCELLENCE

The Indian gold jewellery sector’s journey towards hallmarking has been long, slow and bumpy. Although voluntary hallmarking became available in April 2000, compromised gold was still widely sold in the market — a fact of which neither public nor government was ignorant. In June 2021, however, hallmarking became mandatory. Manufacturers, jewellers and consumers now must quickly come to grips with the new purity norms, which juxtapose a unique six-digit ID for each item with the utterly inadequate state of India’s hallmarking infrastructure. The Retail Jeweller weighs the pros and cons of this sharp turn in the current, mid pandemic moment, when the gems and jewellery industry is more dependent than ever on gold sales.

INTERVIEW - SACHIN JAIN

De Beers is undergoing an unprecedented transformation by returning to the root and adding its tag of assurance to develop a fortified position for its partners and indisputable trust for consumers in years to come. Ahead of the De Beers Forevermark annual Forum 2021, Soma Bhatta speaks to Sachin Jain, MD, Forevermark India, about the massive internal and external changes that the organization is undergoing and what it means for De Beers’ Indian stakeholders.

INTERVIEW - AJOY CHAWLA

As long ago as the early 2000’s, Tanishq, the preeminent brand in organised jewellery retail, made known that gold purity standard in India is questionable. It equated purity with trust, winning over millions of customers. Will mandatory hallmarking erode that lead? Not so, Ajoy Chawla, CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company Limited, tells Soma Bhatta - trust is an edifice of many levels, and purity is only the first one.

INTERVIEW - COLIN SHAH

As IIJS 2021 gears up to resuscitate the trade sentiment with its comeback physical show in Sept 2021, Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC speaks to Soma Bhatta about its role in steering domestic policies, plans to scale up India footprint, and why it needs to first build domestic demand in order to become a reliable

INTERVIEW - SHAILESH SANGANI

IIJS 2021 has surprised the trade for many reasons: the highest number of exhibitors ever in the history of the show; forty percent larger show space and shifting base to Bengaluru after a three-decade plus unbeaten stint in Mumbai. Shailesh Sangani, convener, national exhibitions, GJEPC, speaks to Soma Bhatta about the key highlights, trade expectations and why retailers should brave the odds to visit the upcoming show.

GOLD: A Modern Rendition

World Gold Council’s ‘You are Gold’ Campaign to excite millennials about gold purchase.

From the earth, for the earth: How natural diamond miners are rehabilitating nature

Diamond is in a very eventful phase in its global trade history. There are discoveries such as the 1,098 carat diamond by Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government. Natural diamonds no longer adorn a woman with its beauty only, the members of Natural Diamond Council are giving their all to conserve the environment with better technology. And this is exactly where Natural Diamond Council is making a difference inimitable in scale and heart. Let’s understand better.

Crowning Glory

Shobha Shringar Jeweller partners with the prestigious and aspirational Femina Miss India 2020; gives strong thrust to its image as an urban and millennial ready jeweller

‘ADAPTING TO CHANGES QUICKLY IS THE KEY TO GROWTH'

ABHISHEK CHANDA, Co-Founder of Kalasha Fine Jewels, Hyderabad, says hard work and transparency are his two success mantras

Bringing the extraordinary out of ordinary people

SRI GANESH DIAMONDS AND JEWELLERS from Bangalore, conducts yearly training sessions for its staff to connect and carve out better versions of themselves

COLLABORATION WITH OTHER BRANDS THE SUREFIRE WAY TO GET BRAND RECOGNITION

ARSHDEEP KHURANA, CEO, Sham Jewellers, Chandigarh, has played a key role in shaking off the Covid pandemic-related blues, and helping her family business get back on track. A graduate in English Literature, she was in the middle of the post-graduate course in Advertising and Marketing Communication, when she decided to join the family-run jewellery business. She hopped on board in 2018 as part of the marketing team, and slowly took charge of the department, playing important roles in marketing campaigns, branding initiatives, and schemes and offers, including the famous Diwali Shopping Festival

BREAKING THE SET NORMS

As jewellers rethink their business strategies to strive in the brave new world that is slowly shaping up from the ramparts of the destruction wreaked by the pandemic, Retail Jeweller speaks to jewellers to find out how Covid has intensified a culture of learning and change within organizations, the leadership lessons learnt and unlearnt and the measures designed to reduce the impact on business from unknown and relatively known risks

YOUNG AND BLITHE

The next generation of jewellers think beyond the ordinary, envision new brands for new – age customer

Industry gives mixed response to IIJS Virtual 2.0

Fresh from the success of the inaugural edition of the virtual India International Jewellery Show (IIJS), held in October, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) held the second such event, titled ‘IIJS Virtual 2.0’ in 8-12 January 2021. The five-day-long event was an upgraded version of the October show, with new and advanced features to enhance the buyer-seller experience.

TWO PEAS IN A POD: The allied sector builds a strong foundation for jewellery biz to sparkle

A pandemic and a distressful year later, the jewellery industry continues to navigate troubled waters with an able compass — the allied sector

A thrust to change with the times

Mayank Gupta, director of Kanpur’s Lala Purushottam Das Jewellers was not too inclined to join the family business as a kid. With an aspiration to become a scientist or a soldier with the Air Force, his thoughts started aligning with the jewellery sector as he completed school.

A Diamond's Journey: The Natural Diamond Council's Year Begins With A Lessons on History and Love

NDC ushers in the new year by promoting the desirability of natural diamonds — this time with their knowledge folder of how Indian diamonds, their history and the month of love that looks like the best way to kick-start a year

Novel Ways To Make Internal Customers Happy

Ratnalaya Jewellers started fun activities to make sure that the new employees quickly fit into the organization and mesh with the existing team

The ultimate detection device for lab-grown diamonds

The dedicated engineers and developers at DRC Techno are top-notch in their endeavour, giving customers the value for their money.

RATNALAYA JEWELLERS Makes Luxury Jewellery Affordable, Fashionable & Accessible!

The customers will find deluxe, desirable, value-added and effortlessly reachable jewellery at affordable price points under one roof at the RATNALAYA JEWELLERS‘ New Jewellery Store at Kankarbagh, Patna, Bihar

How the Natural Diamond Council cruised through 2020 in style

Despite a pandemic snuffing the life out of many businesses, the Natural Diamond Council converted 2020 into a bright year. From marketing to restructuring the brand, here is everything they did right this year

Reinventing and finding solutions to every problem takes sales through the roof for this young jeweller

“I have also decided to give them an assurance card on every gold purchase, which will have details such as the jewellery weight and making charges, and other quality details. If we are transparent, the brand image will improve by leaps and bounds”

Skilling the unskilled How robust training brought down attrition rates for this jeweller

KARAN KOTHARI JEWELLERS identified the area that needs the most care for any business to achieve its ultimate goal. The jeweller focused more on their staff and has been reaping dividends since.

SGL Labs leads the way to the future of jewellery certificates

Natural and laboratory-grown diamonds co-exist today, accepted by both consumers and the trade. We believe the growth of laboratory-grown diamonds will expand the overall diamond market and bring in new customers.

KK Jewels immortalizes wedding jewellery shopping for the bride's family

An initiative that wrings out a tear of happiness from the family, ‘BRIDE OF KK JEWELS’ makes a bride feel how she should feel before her big day— special like a queen

MISSING THE EMI OPPOORTUNITY

It’s hardly unusual for consumers to wish to own something they cannot afford to purchase outright. EMIs are the simplest way to fulfill this wish. They empower shoppers as well as retailers. While businesses in most sectors are working to make EMI sanctions ever easier and quicker, suspicious regulators have locked the jewellery industry out in the cold. The Retail Jeweller looks back to the pioneers of EMIs in jewellery, and around at the cutting-edge enterprises of today that are finding ways of bringing this essential tool of consumer finance back into the service of jewellery buyers

Undaunted by the economic downturn triggered by Covid-19, RK Jewellers has launched a premium boutique modelled on the lines of top notch international luxury brands

ROHAN SHARMA, Managing Director of RK Jewellers, ventured into his family business along with his sister - PRAKSHI SHARMA, in 2011. Started by his parents in Delhi in 1995, the store is a labour of passion and immense hard work from the entire family, and now, under the aegis of young leader, the brand has taken a leap into the luxury segment with a new expanded section on the second fl oor of the existing fl agships. The retail concept steers away from the mundane transactional experience usual at most Indian retail outlets and focuses on offering truly international luxury experience when it comes to hi-jewellery. The Retail Jeweller talks to Sharma about his new store and the road ahead