MAN ON THE MOVE – Buoyant orders at India’s largest jewellery trade show signals bright prospects for Diwali and wedding season

01 Sep 2023

By David Brough

MUMBAI – A boom in orders at India's largest jewellery trade show, IIJS Premiere, in Mumbai in August augurs for a strong Diwali and wedding season in the Indian diaspora, including the British Asian jewellery market.

Crowds packed into the show from the outset, underscoring the strength of demand for 22-carat gold jewellery and diamond- and gem-set pieces in India, the world's number 2 gold consumer, and in the diaspora.

Organisers of the event, staged from August 3-8 in the Jio World Convention Centre and the Nesco building in Mumbai, predicted on the first day that an exceptionally high 4.6 billion pounds of business would be done, and forecast attendance by more than 42,000 registered buyers. A day after the event, the state-backed organiser, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), said that a record of more than 6.6 billion pounds of orders had been taken at the show.

Indian jewellers spoke of a positive outlook for Diwali, a key gold jewellery-buying event, and the wedding seasons from late 2023 into early 2024.

“We foresee a good Diwali season,” Vipul Shah, Chairman of the GJEPC, told a press briefing.

Indian and British Asian consumers are presently stepping up demand for chunky 22-carat gold jewellery items, undeterred by high prices, and attracted by their store of value and a cultural affinity for the yellow metal, British Indian jewellers said.

British Asian retail demand, centred in hubs such as Green Street and Southall, Birmingham and Leicester, is estimated to represent some 3-4 per cent of total UK jewellery turnover.

Mehul Lodhiya, a London-based wholesaler, told the NAJ,

“British Asian consumers are attracted by the ‘store of value’ of gold jewellery.” 

British Asian consumers also have a growing appetite for laboratory-grown diamond jewellery, retailers said.

The GJEPC is planning a roadshow aimed at retailers and wholesalers in the UK that will promote a buyer-seller event featuring loose gemstones, diamonds and jewellery, due to take place in Jaipur in April 2024.

Plans were discussed at a meeting between GJEPC executives and UK-based retailers and wholesalers at IIJS Premiere on August 5.

The roadshow could take place in Birmingham or London and may include selling opportunities for designated suppliers.

C K Venkataraman, CEO of Titan Company, owner of Indian brand Tanishq, said he believes India could become the world's leading jewellery market within a decade.

He said India was marching steadily towards affluence and that he suspected that culturally, consumers in India spend a greater share of their incomes on jewellery than elsewhere.

Mr Venkataraman told the NAJ at IIJS,

"The deep connections of Indians to jewellery, due to its appeal as a store of value, combined with the explosive growth of the top income segments, can power this." 

Chetan Kumar Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of South Indian diamond jewellery brand Laxmi Diamonds, whose stand

was crammed with buyers, said he was confident that Indian jewellery demand would be robust during the wedding seasons.

"There will be a huge sale of bridal sets," he told the NAJ in an interview. "People are now focused on bigger jewellery."

Demand for diamonds in the United States had slowed this year after a surge in appetite in 2022, Paul Rowley, Executive Vice President of Diamond Trading, De Beers Group, told the press briefing.

Several jewellers spoke of a challenging market in the United States, which accounts for around US$20 billion, or a third of Indian gem and jewellery exports.

A well-attended seminar on August 3 about the outlook for natural diamond jewellery, organised by the show’s Knowledge Partner Venus Jewel, a Surat-based diamonds manufacturer, projected a bright future for natural diamond jewellery sales despite growth in the uptake of lab-grown diamond jewellery.

Panellists, including Richa Singh, who heads the Indian branch of the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), spoke of the meaningful and enduring value of natural diamond jewellery gifting.

Photography by David Brough

Source: David Brough