Demonetisation did not affect sale of Tanishq jewellery but helped in attracting new type of customers, said Biju Alex, Regional Business Head-South, Tanishq from Tata Group.

In the past, there were requests from customers to forego Pan card, while buying jewellery for high value in cash. However, “we stuck to our stand and even lost many customers. But, now we see more of those types of customers coming back to organised trade,” he said. Pan card is necessary for buying jeweller in cash above ₹2 lakh, he told BusinessLine .

As gold price was high for about a year, demand for studs and diamonds picked up across all markets. The large number of collections that the company launched in the last six months had paid off. “People are looking for unique products and are not waiting for a wedding to buy but are seduced by collections and unique craftsmanship that we have,” he said.

The company’s jewellery exchange programme also helped in higher sales in the last six to eight months, he said.

In the last one year, jewellery industry had been hit due to strike followed by government regulations to curb black money.Overall, the view was to whether buy gold or not, and this in turn affected sales, he said.

Alex was in Chennai to relaunch a Tanishq store as per the new design, which the company does every five to six years based on customer feedback, he said.

Tanishq has 204 stores in 117 cities across the country with 90 per cent of them run by franchisees. In Chennai, it has 17 stores. There is a plan to add 25-30 stores in 8-12 months across India, he said.

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