JEWELRY RETAILERS BET BIG ON FRANCHISING AND TIER II CITIES FOR EXPANSION

India's jewelry market is undergoing a retail boom, with brands aggressively expanding through franchising, shop-in-shop formats, and omnichannel strategies. From Tier II & III cities to diaspora-driven global markets, players are racing to build accessible and trusted footprints.

- BY VAISHNAVI GUPTA

India's jewelry market, valued at a staggering Rs 6.7 trillion, is undergoing a dramatic transformation.

From heritage-heavy gold retailers to modern, design-driven players, brands are aggressively expanding their footprints—both domestically and internationally. What's fueling this expansion is not just rising demand, but also new retail strategies that leverage franchising, shop-in-shop formats, and a balanced omnichannel presence.

Across the country, jewelry brands are in the middle of what can only be described as a retail revolution. From Kalyan Jewellers' 170-store expansion plan to the Aditya Birla Group's debut with Indriya, from CaratLane's deep push into small-town India to Giva's meteoric rise from digital-first to offline-first, the strategies may differ but the ambition is strikingly similar: to build accessible, trusted, and expansive retail footprints.

The Franchise Gold Rush

If there's one word that defines the current expansion playbook, it is franchising. Jewelry, with its high-touch consumer journey, thrives on physical presence. But opening and operating hundreds of company-owned outlets requires capital, local expertise, and speed - areas where the franchise model delivers.

"We are planning to open 170 showrooms in 2025-26, of which 90 will be Kalyan and 80 will be Candere. Almost all of these will be through the franchise model," said Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director, Kalyan Jewellers. For a brand that already operates more than 400 showrooms globally, franchising provides the agility needed to deepen penetration in Tier II, III, and IV markets, while freeing up capital for debt reduction and international bets.