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Our Bureau

Bangalore , Jan. 17

It's the zeal to organise the entire Indian jewellery business that prompted Rajesh Exports Ltd to launch its retail chain, Laabh Jewellers, said Mr Rajesh Mehta, the company Chairman.

Announcing the simultaneous launch of 30 `Laabh' outlets in 23 cities across the country here on Tuesday, he said the launch was to ensure that "we sell guaranteed purity in the best of jewellery designs at acceptable prices". The company has come up with 3,000 exclusive designs that are traditionally Indian and "would be acceptable to Indians across the country," he added.

Besides Bangalore, Rajesh Exports has rolled out Laabh outlets in Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Vadodara, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Cuttack, Kochi, Delhi, Guwahati, Indore, Jammu, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Noida, Patna, Pune, Rajkot, Secunderabad, Srinagar and Varanasi.

Mr Mehta said that Laabh Jewellers would sell "guaranteed purity of 22-carat gold jewellery and without inferior-quality solders". He added that the prices, calculated on the basis of international gold prices, would be standard across outlets. There would be no hidden costs such as gold wastage, stone charges, etc in the pricing, and the costs would include Rs 70, Rs 90 and Rs 120 a gm (depending on the jewellery piece) as making charges, he said. There was also a lifetime buy-back guarantee on offer, and "Laabh Jewellers would buy the jewellery back at prevalent rates," he added.

According to him, it was a conscious decision to launch Laabh Jewellers as mid-sized outlets; "We would understand the market and go in for expansion," Mr Mehta said. "We plan to launch close to 100 stores between 18 and 24 months from now. Laabh Jewellers would also go global in the future."

The target for global expansion would be places where there is a concentration of Asian population such as New York, the Queens area of New Jersey and Los Angeles in the US. "In Mumbai, we plan to come out with a larger store," he said, adding that a mid-sized store in that city would be insufficient considering the nature of market.

The company would also forge an alliance with its existing customers to form the Shubh Jewellers brand, which would begin operations by April this year, Mr Mehta said. Unlike Laabh Jewellers, Shubh would be predominantly South-centric, he added.

More Stories on : Retailing | Gems & Jewellery | Karnataka

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