Increasing prices made it difficult for gold to find favor with Christmas and Makar Sankranti shoppers. As compared to last year, gold purchases dipped by almost 15 percent and thus diamonds and colored stones fascinated festival shoppers. The sale of precious and semi-precious stones like emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, garnets, amethysts, citrines, peridots, and tourmalines shot up by almost 25 percent over December 2006 during these two festivals. Also, with the wedding season right round the corner, consumers have been rooting for diamond and colored stone bridal jewelry.

Samad Motiwala, chairman, A K Motiwala (Mumbai), noticed a demand for pendants in the price range of Rs 1,00,000 and above. This demand could also be attributed to the wedding season. Earrings, studded with diamonds, precious and semi-precious stones, were fast  moving items this Christmas. Rings studded with diamonds with a colored stone in the middle and priced at Rs 20,000 and above were hugely popular.

In this season there has also been a demand for spiritual jewelry like rudrashk malas and the Cross. Keeping this in mind, Agni Jewels Pvt. Ltd  launched a new line of jewelry called ‘Om Creation.’ Ravi Jerath, proprietor, Agni Jewels, notes that religious pendants like Ganpati, Sreenathji, Sai baba and Om have been in vogue this Makar Sankranti. This collection comprises of ladies rings and ear studs, all made of 18k white and yellow gold and studded with cubic zirconium (CZ). The company has witnessed a 30 percent increase in their sales compared to the previous year.

According to Sameer Loyalka, brand manager, Sparkles Diamonds, “Lightweight 18k gold jewelry in the price range of Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 was in vogue this  Christmas. People demanded fancy cut diamonds and according to my observation, white gold has replaced yellow gold. Since the look of white gold is similar to that of platinum,  people who can’t afford platinum opt for white gold.” Sparkles Diamonds is renowned for its exquisite pieces of diamond jewelry. The collections include pendants, nose pins, rings, necklaces and earrings in 9k, 14k and 18k gold. It has 28 outlets in seven major cities of India and the products are available on-line too.

Generous bridal jewelry sales

Shoppers were generous with money when they bought bridal jewelry as bridal sets in  the price range of Rs 5,00,000 and above were in demand.  “Since the Indian economy has been doing well people are now spending more. Sales too have been 15 percent better than last year and with a few more months to go in this financial year, I see the continuation of this growth trend,” states Motiwala. A K Motiwala has a retail outlet at Mumbai (Bandra) and has been manufacturing and exporting gold, diamond, kundan and minakari jewelry to the US, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East since 1950.

According to Pravin Talwar, the owner of Talwar & Sons (Chandigarh), “This being the wedding season, customers have bought a lot of heavy necklaces and earrings made of polki kundan and plain kundan. For Christmas and Makar Sankranti, in particular, people in and around Chandigarh  bought oxidized and pearl jewelry along with ruby and  emerald studded jewelry.” Talwar Jewellers from Chandigarh sells 22k hallmarked gold bridal jewelry and jewelry for  party wear and special occasions set in gemstones and diamonds. Their clientele includes the rich and the famous in the North  who prefer heavy jewelry. Brides and their relatives like to do their bridal jewelry shopping from this family jeweler who has been in the city for generations. 

Gifting Season

As Christmas is regarded as a gifting season, small jewelry items like charms, pendants, rings and solitaires in the price range of Rs 15,000 to 30,000 received a good response in Pune, Kolhapur and Jalgaon. According to Ashwin Lalwani of Rajmal Lakhichand Jewellers (Pune and Kolhapur), “Design is the biggest driver of sales especially during this season as people wish to stand out in the crowd and therefore look out for unique creations. They generally buy gold chains and earrings weighing between 5 to 15 grams.”

Lalwani believes that this festival and wedding season has seen a five to ten percent drop in gold jewelry sales but the sales of diamond jewelry have  picked up by more than 25 percent. He has also noticed a rise in the demand for semi-precious stones. “I see a huge demand for jewelry with a combination of diamonds and semi-precious stones for the next two seasons,” says Lalwani.

Sucheta Khandwala, director, Motimmo (Hammer Plus Jewellery), agrees with Lalwani. Says Khandwala “As people can now buy jewelry at the same price as that of other gifts like shirts or kurtis, they might as well present jewelry. It is still considered auspicious to gift gold.” Hammer Plus is the Indian distribution arm of the German jewelry brand Hammer and Sohne. Presently based in Mumbai, the company is planning to set up zonal offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi and Kolkata in the future.

New Trends

With the shift towards diamonds and semi-precious stones, in Delhi there is a nascent market for designer antique jewelry set in colorful stones like tourmalines, spinel, topaz and rhodolite. According to Manish Verma, proprietor, Gopal Jewellers, New Delhi (exporter and wholesaler of gold jewelry), “Pink is an all time favorite with women and for that reason, rhodolite is the favored color for the season. Bottle green can also be termed as a color with a future.”.

Other colors that did well in this festive season were aquamarine blue, tourmaline green, turquoise blue, black diamonds in combination with white diamonds and pearls in combination with diamonds. Some high polished, brush-finished electroplated jewelry in silver and white gold with semi-precious colored stones were also spotted on the shelves  this season.

Growth in cities

R K Menon, CEO, Lucera Jewellery notes that “ Cities like Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Goa and Bangalore are the places where Christmas jewelry gets maximum business. The outlets in these cities generally sold red, yellow and white stone jewelry.”

Lucera is a subsidiary of Renaissance Jewellery Ltd and the company launched its Victorian Collection this Christmas. Commenting on this Menon said, “We have the advantage of having designs for Christmas in our design bank as our parent company, Renaissance Jewelry Ltd, is one of the largest exporters to the US market.”

Recently, the company launched its exclusive flagship store at Select Citywalk mall at Saket, New Delhi as part of its plan to expand its presence in North India.
 
The corporate plans to open 250 exclusive Lucera branded stores across India by the end of 2010. The company already has tie-ups with Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle and is present in 26 locations across India.
 
Varda Goenka, director, Diagold Jewels Pvt. Ltd says, “Since Christmas is the season of red and black we had special cocktail earrings in black and red stones and diamonds.” This Christmas their outlets in Mumbai and Kolkata saw a demand for handcrafted and intricately designed diamond studded jewelry.

The manufacture of appealing designs for Christmas starts from mid September as it is at this time of the year that the trend becomes apparent. Branded diamond jewelry manufacturers concentrate on Christmas sales for an upward swing in the bottomline.

Purchases during Makar Sankranti

As far as Makar Sankranti is concerned, Varda Goenka of Diagold noticed youths buying small jewelry items while middle-aged consumers vied for traditional pieces like necklaces and earrings. Platinum, white gold and silver were preferred over traditional yellow gold. Sleek and dangling earrings replaced long chandeliers while chunky bracelets paved the way for delicate ones.

According to Mumbai-based jewelry designer Imtiaz Motiwala, of ‘I for Imtiaz’ fame, “For this Christmas, light items in white gold with diamonds were in vogue for gifting purposes. As far as Makar Sankranti is concerned, people like to wear traditional jewelry therefore I sold a large number of uncut polki in 22k gold.” Motiwala also received orders for big stone jewelry which could be termed fashionable and were value for money as well. Explains Motiwala: “Victorian jewelry is always in demand but people have also started to appreciate dramatic jewelry. This form of jewelry has big, colored stones with fewer diamonds which can be worn for parties too.”

Predilections of NRIs

Christmas and New Year is also the season when NRIs tempted by the salubrious climate visit the mother country. Sucheta Khandwala of Motimmo remarks, “This is the time when NRIs do a lot of jewelry shopping. They visit their relatives and friends and pick those pieces of jewelry that are either not available or are very expensive  abroad. They have an eye for diamonds which are still their preference.”

Khandwala has also noticed that in keeping with the dominance of diamond studded and semi-precious jewelry, the NRIs  particularly in metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, also prefer pearls during this season.

Analysing sales at year-end, industry sources emphasize that diamond studded gold jewelry grabbed the largest share of the sales pie this season of festivities and weddings. As there has been a decline in the demand for plain gold jewelry, diamonds are expected to continue their undisturbed reign for at least another five years in the Indian jewelry market.