The 12th IIJS Signature exhibition and the 6th India Gem & Jewellery Machinery Expo (IGJME) presented the trade with an opportunity to commence the year’s buying season.
IIJS Signature was inaugurated on February 10th by guest of honour Dr. Subodh Agarwal, additional chief secretary, department of industries, Government of Rajasthan, in the presence of GJEPC chairman Pramod Agrawal.
Pramod Agrawal noted, “The IIJS is the result of the efforts of the entire industry to encourage design, business and innovation. The IIJS and Signature shows have set benchmarks for the Indian gems and jewellery industry as well as the rest of the world. We will continue to take regular feedback from exhibitors on ways to improve the show.”
In his remarks, Subodh Agarwal invited gem and jewellery manufacturers to invest in Rajasthan, and informed that the world’s first colour stone bourse was being set up in Jaipur. He said, “Technology is growing exponentially and is the key to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. The gem and jewellery business creates jobs and is nonpolluting. The Rajasthan state government is now in the process of creating a new industrial policy where the law will abolish all existing laws. For MSMEs, we want to encourage self-regulation and waive off all rules for three years. We want to make Jaipur the gemstone and jewellery capital of the world.”
Gracing the opening ceremony were GJEPC executive director Sabyasachi Ray, GJEPC exhibitions co-convener Kirit Bhansali, GJEPC national exhibitions subcommittee convener Shailesh Sangani, western region chairman Ashok Gajera, and gold jewellery panel member Mansukh Kothari.
In a recorded video message, Suresh Prabhu, union minister for commerce & industry, Government of India, said, “Gem and jewellery exports amount to around $42 billion every year and the industry generates employment for around 5 million people, especially in rural areas. These exports result in value addition and create huge global opportunities for business and employment.
“The gem and jewellery business is part of a global supply chain and integrated ecosystem ranging from Antwerp to Hong Kong to Surat to Mumbai, etc. The government has announced the first ever Domestic Council and an integrated gold policy, all of which will lead to more and more growth for the Indian gem and jewellery industry.”
Pramod Agrawal added that the government has taken many steps for the growth of the industry, including the recent launch of the Domestic Council for Gems & Jewellery. “With the help of initiatives like the Jewellery Park in Mumbai, we will be able to add 3 million jobs in the coming years and increase exports to $75 billion,” he said.
“The GJEPC Parichay Card will help the industry to establish a database for all people linked to the industry and help to create the Labour Management Information System or LMIS and provide access to insurance, technology, etc. We are coming up with new common facility centres (CFCs) in Rajkot, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The GJEPC is also doing cluster mapping in major manufacturing centres across the country and we anticipate setting up more than 160 CFCs across India in the coming years.
“India is the sixth largest jewellery manufacturer in the world and it is the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that we transform the jewellery sector just as we have the diamond industry. He also wants Brand India to be marketed in such a manner that ‘Made in India’ becomes synonymous with top quality.”
Agrawal continued, “Medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of our industry. The Council has been organising educational and motivational seminars to inform the various benefits of government schemes to the MSMEs across India. This will help them in their business in a large way.”
Pramod Agrawal also launched GJEPC’s toll-free number 18001034353 (Missed Call on 917208048100).
The show had more than 13,000 pre-registered visitors, including international delegations from the UK, UAE, Russia, Malaysia, Iran Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Uzbekistan.
Design-centric show
Design is the fulcrum of the IIJS Signature show, and a cornerstone of India’s goal of becoming the “jeweller to the world”. This year, exhibitors presented natureinspired collections, jewellery lavished with softer hues of coloured gemstones, and exciting categories in jadau collections. Fancy-cuts, too, had their moment in the sun. Jewellery set with Russian emeralds and corals were popular at the show. Priyanshu Shah, managing director of A’Star Jewellery, said, “Our necklaces set with 2 to 5 carats of diamonds, rings in the 30-50 cents range, and kadas below 1.5 carats did exceptionally well, especially in tier 2 and 3 towns. Trade is picking up for the upcoming season. We specialise in the illusion setting, which gives diamonds a bigger look and suits the buyer’s budget limit. Our highend Rendezvous collection also got a good response at the show.”
Anil Bharwani of Seth Sunderdas, Mumbai, opened the show with a tremendous response. “Our last customer left around 8 pm on the first day. All designer jewellery segments like earrings, rings and bracelets under R5 lakh were popular with our buyers, who were mainly from the tier 2 and 3 towns.” Siddharthaa Sawansukha, managing director, Sawansukha Jewellers, Kolkata, noted that there was demand for all the product categories in daily, couture and bridal wear. However, walk-ins were unsatisfactory, he rued.
In keeping with the current trend, Ankit Lodha, managing director, GIE Creations, Jaipur, concentrated on high-end bridal jewellery set with Russian emeralds, big-size polkis, and other gemstones.
Durgesh Ahuja, head designer of Nine Jewellery, Jaipur, said, “We brought in a variety of earrings set with Russian emeralds and polkis, freshwater pearls and rose cuts. Russian emeralds have a fresh pastel green shade and they work well instead of meenakari. They are cheaper and a good quality Russian emerald is about R500 per carat. Our 14-karat earrings from R3 lakh to R5 lakh were a hit with our regular customers.”
Shashwat Shah of Shah Gems, Jaipur, said that even though their jewellery is heritage-inspired, it is not generic in nature. The collections are infused with freshwater pearls, gemstones, polkis and bead work. Shah said that the latest collections are set with corals as they are understated and have been barely used in the past. “Corals complement the Indian skin tone,” he said, and pointed out that chunky necklaces are not moving anymore as women don’t find them functional. “Instead, multi-layered necklaces made of gem beads or pearls interjected with scaled down Indian jadau motifs are trending.”
Milan Chheda, partner, Tara Fine Jewels, Mumbai, observed that jewellery set with pastel shaded coloured gemstones is doing well these days. “We are happy with the response at the show,” Chheda added.
Sanskriti Jewels of Mumbai, too, had an arresting line-up of earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces adorned with candy coloured gemstones including coral, onion colour pearls, pink tourmalines, keshi pearls, amethysts, and Russian emeralds among others.
Sudeep Sethi of Intergem Exports, Indore, found the show to be below average mainly due to the poor footfalls. However, he observed that the ratio of conversion at the show was more. “Buyers want singular pieces. Some of our old buyers replenished their stocks with the newer additions of our Peacock collection,” he noted. Abhishek Raniwala, Raniwala 1881, Jaipur, informed that the show was good, but the timing was wrong and it shouldn’t have started on a Sunday. “It is very close to the Jaipur Jewellery Show and footfalls have been insufficient. However, if one has a good designer line, then business is bound to happen even if the volumes are not up to the mark. We sold necklace sets in the range of R5 lakh to R10 lakh.”
Saurin Choudhari, partner, Splurge, Mumbai, said that the company is known for its diamondintensive jewellery. “The show was good as we met some new clients, but we feel that the buying sentiments have been affected. We did not see quality diamond retailers. We received good demand for delicate necklaces, cocktail rings and fancy earrings priced between R3 lakh and R6 lakh.” Naman Kala of Kalajee Jewellers, Jaipur, said he was surprised by the restricted buying this time. “The volumes dipped drastically. For instance, those who earlier purchased 20 pairs of earrings reduced their capacity by more than 50%.”
A spokesperson for Royal Chains said that barring day one, the rest of the days were slow in terms of order placements.
Yash Vadher, owner, RK Silver, Rajkot, said, “If the product is unique, you will find buyers for it in any market. Footfalls were less because of the Gurjar strike, flight cancellations and gold rates being high. We felt that the northern representation was poor at the show.”
Darshit Hirani, partner, P. Hirani Exports LLP, Mumbai, said “In India we have noticed that there is a lot of interest in natural fancy colour diamonds because there has been a good amount of education among many of the high-end retailers. Their clients, especially HNIs, are globetrotters and are well aware about luxury jewellery brands, who predominantly use high-end gemstones and colour diamonds to stand out. Looking at that, we decided around 3-4 months ago to create a small highend capsule collection using fancy colour diamonds. And the response has been great!
“The pieces are manufactured in Hong Kong and China, because some of the expertise required to set high-end stones isn’t available in India. Our price range starts from $1,500 per carat going into millions of dollars per carat. Assembling colour diamonds of similar intensity, clarity and size is difficult, so there’s a sense of rarity associated with them.
“When it comes to colour, yellow diamonds find easy acceptability as they are more affordable than whites of similar size and quality. Pink diamonds, too, are also quite popular in India.”
Rahul Mehta, partner, Manak Diamonds, Mumbai, said that this was his third year at IIJS Signature. “We introduced super flexible handmade and casting bracelets set with 13-17-carat diamonds for which we received an excellent response; the cost of each is between R7 lakh and R10 lakh. We are originally known for bridal haarams (necklaces) set with VVS diamonds since we generally cater to the southern market. This time though our bracelets and rings were fast-moving items.”
Deepak Seth of SK Seth Jewellers, Mumbai, was happy with the response he received for his 22-karat bridal necklaces that were adorned with emeralds, keshi pearls and more. Taking pride of place at the booth was a multirow graduated Zambian emerald necklace that was highlighted with gold motifs. “These are perfectly graduated emeralds (R3,000 per carat) of the same colour. But irrespective of the cost there were takers for the piece. I am happy that we fared very well given the market situation.”
Gold buying defies the odds
The skyrocketing gold rate did have some effect on the buying pattern at IIJS Signature, but overall the gold section reaped good results because exhibitors scaled down the weight of their collections to make it easy on the pocket. Pramod Mehta, director, Shilpi Jewellers exclaimed that the show had been super successful right on day one. “The upcoming marriage season is the main driving force behind the strong sales performance. Our central location in the hall helped as well. We noticed a 20-25% drop in volume terms. I think the markets will settle once there is some stability after the upcoming elections,” he noted.
Prem Mehra, managing director, Unique Chains, said, “We were very happy with the serious buying that is happening. We saw no impact of the high gold rates. Buyers came from all over India, but retailers from Maharashtra, especially Mumbai, didn’t visit in large numbers.” Mehul Solanki, partner, Solanki Jewels, witnessed strong demand for pastel hued enamelled gold jewellery. Heavy sets ranging from 100 grams to 350 grams were moving well before the marriage season, he informed.
Arun Pahuja, director of Itan, said that though the first day was slow, the second day was very busy. “Because of the high gold rates, buyers were looking for a pair of bangles between 16 and 20 grams in 22-karat gold. The response was good from across the country.” A spokesperson for Hasmukh Parekh Jewellers, Kolkata, an over 50-year-old wholesaling company, famous for its Kolkata filigree lightweight jewellery, said that their second outing at Signature was fruitful as they met new clients from all over the country who sought jewellery ranging from 20 gm to 400 gm.
Abdul Rahman Shaikh of Gold Artism, Mumbai, received orders for small sets and rings from southern cities like Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Vijayawada and Trichur. The average daily wear sets booked were from 40 to 80 grams. Shaikh said there were fewer buyers compared to previous years, but business picked up on the second and third day as he received genuine buyers.
New techniques
Pankaj Kodnani of Krown Jewels, Mumbai, said there was a huge demand for jhumkas fashioned with diamond-cut wires that employ laser solder technology. Some of the jhumkas he showcased were 3-D printed as well. Surprisingly, Kodnani saw heavy demand from tier 2 and 3 towns for these superlight and super-modern jhumkas.
Armas, a subsidiary of Jewelkraft Creations, created a collection of 18-karat gold rings in six different coloured alloys – yellow, rose, pink, white, red and green. What makes the rings unique is that the multicoloured jewellery is made using a proprietary gold alloy technique, without the use of rhodium, polish or soldering.
Anish Birawat of Chain N Chains, Mumbai, felt it was a decent show. “Retailer footfalls were less, and in a way it was less stressful for us this time,” he says tongue-in-cheek. “Buyers want newer innovations every time they walk in and we delivered accordingly; then it does not matter if the jewellery is lightweight or heavy. We launched simple prêt wear wristlets – basically chain wraparounds with clasps that have motifs and textures. In a challenging market, every buyer wants a new product. We have introduced a lot of new categories in men’s chains, wristlets, bracelets with tiny adornments. We had serious buyers who we could spend time with and explain our range. With a lot of conversation comes a lot of development.”