The Hindu Business Line : Kirtilal plans more jewellery stores in N. India

Chennai, Sept. 7 Coimbatore-based gold and diamond jewellery manufacturer and retailer Kirtilal Kalidas & Co plans to set up 24 showrooms across India over the next three years. The investments and funding mechanisms are currently being worked out, said Mr V. Balaji, Head-Marketing, Kirtilal Kalidas.

The company has showrooms in Coimbatore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bangalore, Vijayawada and Ludhiana. “We are planning to consolidate operations in the South and set up more shops in North India,” he said.

Owing to robust demand for gold and diamond jewellery in the North (for daily wear and as heavy fashion pieces), the company plans to open outlets in New Delhi, Chandigarh and areas nearby.

“Demand from tier-II cities is also rising and we plan to set up some showrooms there too,” Mr Balaji told Business Line on the sidelines of a press conference announcing the launch of a jewellery range using the Forever mark diamonds. The range comprises 15 designs in solitaires ranging from 30 points to 2 carats and priced above Rs 75,000. The designs have been laid using an advanced precision setting technique to give maximum brilliance to the diamonds.

Forevermark is a proprietary technology of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) and was first launched in Hong Kong in 2004. It features a mark and a unique number inscribed on a facet of the diamond indicating it was mined, cut and polished in an ethical, social and environmentally responsible way.

Only diamonds of 0.30 carat and above are marked this way and jewellery made from such stones would cost 4-5 per cent more than those from unmarked diamonds.

Globally, about 92,000 diamonds have been marked since 2004. Forevermark was launched in India this January and DTC expects to see momentum in sales from this month onwards, said Mr Prasad Kapre, Director, Diamond Promotion Service.

DTC is also planning to introduce the Forevermark in the centre stone of the Nakshatra range of jewellery.

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