 "An employee sifts diamonds at a diamond cutting and polishing factory in Surat in Gujarat")
Diamond-studded or platinum jewellery is leading the trend this Diwali on the back of growing change in the mind set of women, particularly those working, away from their role as homemakers, who take jewellery more as a daily wearable than buying gold as investment avenue, an ASSOCHAM survey based on jewellers' and consumer feedback has noted.
High gold prices and innovations on the part of jewellery firms, especially the large houses, is driving the change in the fashion trend. Even within gold jewellery, the trend is seen on lower-cost wearables, though more needs to be done to tempt consumers. Small items like earring, rings and light bangles see heavy demand.
The survey, which comes on the eve of Dhanteras, found that 79 per cent of jewellers are focusing on platinum-based diamond jewellery over traditional pure play gold and silver ornaments to tap the changing preferences of consumers. The demand for diamond jewellery is estimated to have grown by 30-35 per cent this season year-on-year; Platinum too has seen an excellent growth of 25 per cent this year, the survey said.
The survey covered 350 jewellery-makers based in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ahemdabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Dehradun.
ASSOCHAM also interacted with about 500 working and non-working women in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai to gauge their shopping habits during Dhanteras.
With high import duty and increased base price, investment oriented consumers are seen less in the bullion market, while the business model is moving towards wearable jewellery, which easy on the pocket, even though it may not have too much of weight.
"That is the real challenge... Can they (jewellers) sell some decent jewellery for say Rs 5,000-10,000 or between Rs 15,000-20,000. That is where the demand lies," ASSOCHAM Chairman of Gold Council said on Friday.
The overall share of platinum and diamond-based jewellery in the market is expected to take on a significant share of the gold jewellery sales in the near future, reports say.
The jewellery makers using diamond and platinum are investing heavily in coming out with new designs, reflecting changing consumer taste, international trends and affordability. Even antique designs are being done in this segment, the survey noted.
One of the reasons jewellers are losing interest in gold is a high level of policy regulation and tax issues like mandatory quoting of the Permanent Account Number of Income Tax, traders in the precious metals said.
During Dhanteras, sales of gold and silver, along with other metals, is expected to pick up, though the mix and ratio among different precious metals might change. The share of platinum and diamond jewellery in the overall gold jewellery has increased significantly over the past one year.
