Love will spell boom for the diamond industry this Valentine’s Day. The Rs 30,000-crore Indian diamond industry is expecting a 25% jump in sales as the precious stone catches up with the young generation. In value terms, the industry is hoping a Rs 700-crore business during the week before the VDay . Indian diamond industry, which processes 80% of world’s rough stones, had undergone one of its worst crises last year as demand slowed down. This year, with situation improving abroad, retailers are coming up with innovative schemes to push sales even in India, which is perceived as a weaker market for diamonds. The focus being on the youth, retailers are now positioning diamond jewellery as the perfect gift for the special day.
New collections are being introduced and retailers expect major buying in the sub-Rs 20,000 range. While discounts galore, promotional strategies too are being put forward to make most of the week.
Organised retailer Gitanjali group has called February month as ‘a season of love’ and is offering up to 25% discounts to buyers. “We expect that Indian youth will purchase diamond jewellery worth more than Rs 700 crore during February 8-14 , which will be around 25% higher than last year. There is good market sentiment and we hope that our sales will grow by 30% than last year,” Shardah Uniyal, general manager (marketing), Gitanjali group, told ET. She added that during February 1 to 14, Gitanjali expects total diamond jewellery sales of Rs 60 crore. “We are offering special collection named L’Amour and there is a huge demand for heart shape pendants and rings. We believe that this is a festival celebrated by youth and they prefer to purchase diamond jewellery worth Rs 3,000-25000 to gift it to their special ones,” said Ms Uniyal. Forever Jewellery is also expecting huge jump in its business this Valentines Day.
“We are offering 15-25 % discounts in our jewellery brand Carbon. It is a lifestyle brand, which attracts young buyers and professionals, and we hope that our sales will jump by more than 40% in our total 125 stores during the Valentine’s Day week,” said Jai Begani, MD of Forever Jewellery. He added that maximum demand for diamond jewellery is for the products in the range of Rs 3,000-1 lakh.
Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) believes that the domestic market has also become attractive for diamond jewellery players just like foreign markets. “We have witnessed a good demand from the Western countries during December-January and there is good sentiment for Valentine’s Day celebration . India is also becoming a huge market for diamond jewellery and the industry is promoting products aggressively. We believe that Indian market will register a 25% growth in sales for the Valentine’s Day,” Sanjay Kothari, convener (marketing & promotions) of GJEPC told ET. He, however, added that after a dull sentiment last year due to recession, prices have improved by around 10% along with jump in prices of gold and diamond.
Jewellery giant Tanishq has come out with diamonds worth Rs 999 for the Valentine Day. “Diamond jewellery is becoming a lifestyle product and we want to attract young buyers also by offering diamond at Rs 999. We offer discounts during January-February every year and include Valentine’s Day in it. There is good demand and we hope that we will register growth of more than 30% in this season,” said Bhavan Gaurav, marketing head of Tanishq. Small retailers are also ready to do good business on the special occasion. Surat-based She Jewels has come out with a unique idea to attract buyers. “We witness good demand for rings and pendants for the V-Day . For diamond jewellery buyers, we gift silver ornaments, double the weight of gold content. For example, a buyer of 10 gm gold will get 20 gm silver as an add on,” said Pravin Nanavati, MD of She Jewels. He added that diamond jewellery is one of the best investment option and young people are also converting towards it after it is available at very low cost.
Ahmedabad-based Laxmi Jewellers is all set to register a 20% surge in business compare to last Valentine’s Day. “There is strong demand for light weight diamond rings and earrings also. We have decided to offer 15% discount on labour charges and we believe that apart from young buyers, we will get many middleage buyers, who want to give memorable gift to their special one,” said Vipul Mehta, MD of Laxmi Jewellers.
Source: Economictimes
Diamond cos hope to cash in on V-Day fever, eye 25% jump in sales
Man enters restricted zone in Ahmedabad airport
A man entered the restricted zone in the Domestic Terminal of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Monday.
Border Security Force officials detained him and handed him over to the local police. The Sardarnagar police said the accused, Parag Patel (40), is mentally unstable and stays with his family in the Naranpura area. In the morning, he left home on his own. He sneaked through to the terminal and did not stop when security personnel asked him to. He was immediately detained.
Meanwhile, the airport authorities claimed that they could not ascertain how Patel entered the terminal. The police have booked him under Section 120 of the Bombay Police Act for entering a restricted zone. Further investigations are on.
Source: Indian Express
2 held with 20 stolen bikes
Ahmedabad rural local crime branch (LCB) officials were on the routine watch in Sarkhej on Sunday when they spotted two youths on a Hero Honda CBZ bike number GJ 8 H 5231 near Navdurga crossroads.
When the riders could not produce satisfactory ownership documents or proof, they were questioned about the bike. During the questioning, they found that the youths were Husain Abdul Shaikh, 23, a resident of Juhapura and Bhiku Khokhar, 23, a resident of Sarkhej.
During the questioning it was revealed that they had so far stolen 20 bikes areas near SG Highway — malls, religious places and multiplexes — over a period of six months. The bikes were then taken to Banaskantha where they were sold for anything between Rs 7,000 to Rs 15,000. Officials managed to get 15 bikes back from the buyers. The accused duo used to identify themselves as recovery agents from bank.
Source: TimesofIndia
New Ahmedabad buses not to be plastered with adverts
Soon the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport System (AMTS) buses you commute in will be clean and free of advertisements.
Like the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), the 400 feeder buses managed by the AMTS will be clean -- at least from outside.
AMTS bosses have decided not to paint advertisements on the buses. They say, there are two reasons for it.
First, AMTS income is nominal from advertisements on the bus and secondly, maintenance of the buses becomes a problem after the advertisements are removed. The AMC has purchased 400 buses from the JNNURM funds under the urban transport project. The buses will be used as BRTS feeder buses but maintained by the AMTS.
"We have selected red and orange colour for the new feeder buses. The bus looks very attractive and we don't want to spoil its beauty. Anyways, income through advertisements on the AMTS buses is very nominal and once these advertisements are removed, maintaining the bus colour becomes a problem," said chairman of AMTS committee Pravin Patel.
While plans to manage 400 feeder buses are afoot, the arrival of the buses has once again been delayed. "We had sent a team of four people from AMTS and AJL to inspect quality of buses especially after the incident of a bus catching fire in Delhi because we have opted for the same model. Our team has come back after inspecting the bus and we have put forward some suggestions to avoid any such incident for passengers' safety," added Patel.
He said around 150 bus should come by this month-end and the remaining by the end of April.
Source: DnaIndia
Chandrayaan-1 also found new types of rocks
Yet another feather has been added to the cap of India’s Rs 386-crore lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1; it has not only discovered water molecules but also new types of rocks. This was announced on Monday by Carle Pieters, principal investigator of Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), a Nasa payload on board Chandrayaan-1 which detected water molecules along with indigenous Moon Impact Probe and Hyper Spectral Imager.
He was addressing scientists associated with Indian moon mission which won international acclaims and awards at the sixth Chandrayaan-1 scientific meeting, organised by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), an autonomous organisation, under Isro. The scientific data from Chandrayaan-1 is being analysed at PRL.
Pieters said: "M3 has discovered new rock types which are very small. They are unusual and we are in the process of analysing them." Significantly, this discovery was made on the far side of the moon. Former Isro chiefs — K Kasturirangan, Madhavan Nair and U R Rao and a number of foreign delegates including a few associated with the Japanese mission to the moon, Kaguya, were present at the meeting which will end on Tuesday.
Pieters told TOI the type of minerals found in the new type of rocks is common. "But what is surprising is that their combination is uncommon. This is a very valuable piece of information," she said, adding geo chemists could analyse the data.
A scientist attached to Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre, A S Arya, told the gathering that an analysis of the high resolution imagery of the indigenous terrain mapping camera (TMC) has resulted in identifying "lunar tubes." He said the opinion among a section of scientists is that these "tubes" could be utilised for a potential human settlement in future. These tubes could provide much-needed protection to a human colony on the moon.
Source: TimesofIndia
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