Silver is no longer the poor man’s gold. Thanks to the rising gold prices, the demand for silver jewellery, artefacts, household and home decorating products made out of the metal is on rise.
The purchasing trend, which used to be at 15-20 per cent, has grown up to 50-70 per cent in the last one year itself. Whereas, the overall jewellery buying across gold, diamond and silver has gone up just 20-30 per cent over the last few years, says Rahul Nigam, brand consultant at city-based Meena Jewellers.
“Earlier, silver was used in tribal jewellery, but now has entered into the fashion jewellery segment, preferred by college-going students, working professionals, foreigners and NRIs as it gives one a choice to mix and match,” says Pawan Agarwal of Pawan and Co.
Even people in the southern states — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — are going for silver as gold prices have gone beyond the reach of the common man, said P Koteswara Rao, deputy general manager, MMTC Limited, a government of India enterprise.
In the last two years, silver prices have increased three-fold to Rs 75 per gram from Rs 25. However, it has now come down to Rs 57 per gram.
Meeta Gupta from Bangalore-based Sanctity Jewellers says people from South India mainly prefer gold-coated silver jewellery than the silver jewellery itself. Sanctity makes customised jewellery.
Also Read
The profit margin is also higher in silver and imitation jewellery as compared with gold, Nigam says. Realising the potential, leading gold jewellers have also come up with separate silver jewellery wings to cater to these new customers.
A jewellery cluster at Devarakonda in Andhra Pradesh has also come up with 250 artisans and 22 self-help groups. The cluster makes silver hand-made jewellery for both domestic market and exports.