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newindpress.com
Upswing in demand for gold jewellery
Friday October 22 2004 00:00 IST
CHENNAI: It is a well-known fact that India is the mecca of gold. While the fact still remains, the country is also emerging as a major export hub for gold and platinum jewellery.
According to Ruban Hobday, director, The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Lisa Mukhedkar, strategic planner, Platinum Guild India, the main challenges for the industry today are finding new markets and to catch up with countries like Italy in terms of design capabilities.
“India has tremendous cost advantage over others. What is now needed are collaborations with Italian designers. As far as new markets are concerned Australia is opening up as a major export market for India. Consider also the fact that over 750 tonne of gold was consumed in India last year,'' they add.
Hobday goes one step further and espouses the need for setting up more jewellery units in export processing zones.
Chennai alone exported gold jewellery worth Rs 210 crore last year while the figure from Bangalore was higher at Rs 2,400 crore. The increased demand has largely been triggered by the huge NRI population abroad.
“What is surprising is that even though gold/platinum jewellery is still looked at as an investment option, it is slowly becoming a fashion statement,'' adds Mukhedkar.
The biggest gainer has been platinum which in spite of being a rare metal is slowly emerging as the “in-thing.'' This has more to do with its purity and ability to fuse with diamonds and its excellent buy-back value, she adds.
“Wearing platinum is more of making a statement by today's women in the age group of 25-40 of wearing what they want. So while domestic bridal jewellery continues to be dominated by heavy chains and pendants, the export market prefers slim rings and chains. And it is not just women who wear jewellery. In fact studies show that more and more men are wearing chains and bracelets,'' Mukhedkar said. |
