The Hindu Business Line : Devji Jewellers opening diamond store in Coimbatore

Coimbatore, March 21 Bahrain-based Devji Jewellers has announced the opening of Viswa & Devji – an exclusive diamond jewellery store in the city. For the Bahrain group, this is the first retail outlet in India. The group is planning to establish a strong presence in the South.

According to Mr Prakash Devji, Managing Director, Bhaskar Devji Jewellers, and partner Viswa & Devji, the group would have at least 3 exclusive diamond jewellery showrooms in the southern part of the country.

Stating that the group has an established diamond manufacturing base here, which is about two-decades old, he said “we have been making ornaments for upcountry markets and exporting them as well. Considering the market potential, we decided to launch our exclusive retail store here,” he told Business Line.

The skilled workforce in the manufacturing facility here is close to 300.

Four different collections, such as trendy jewellery, wedding collections, antique jewellery and diamond offerings for the high-end segment would be showcased in the showroom, Mr Prakash said.

To a question on branding, he said: “Devji itself is a brand. We are not looking at a brand ambassador to promote our diamond collection. At least not in the near term.”

“We have, over the years, established a retail chain in Muscat and Dubai. We have nine branches. During the current year, we plan to add five more showrooms. We export gold jewellery to Turkey, Jordan, Yemen, Iraq and Iran. We are planning to open branches in Qatar and Abu Dhabi as well.’

According to him, the jewel design barriers were breaking down in that country, with Arab customers preferring Bollywood design.

“Indian designs are popular there. Our design team in India, capture the global design trend of the different markets.”

Did the soaring price of the yellow metal dampen the expansion plans? “We were apprehensive in the initial stages. But the love for gold, both in India and West Asia kept our hopes high. Despite the steep rise in the price of gold ornament exchange accounts for only 10 per cent of our total sales.”

He, however, was disinclined to share sales details. He said that the group registered a 25 per cent growth year-on-year.

“Majority of our wholesale business in the Gulf is by order book. The delivery time is about 4 weeks. We have separate production facility for the retail segment and for the wholesale segment (supplies to other stores and establishments).”

On manpower availability, he said “the industry is still not standardised. There is a need to create a better pay package for goldsmiths. The skilled craftsmen are hard to come by.”

Besides jewellery, the group has diversified into education and advertising.

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