Commodity Online
MUMBAI: India’s apex body for jewellery merchants and trade—the All India Gem and Jewellery Trade Federation—is tying up with the World Gold Council (WHC) and Rio Tinto for marketing and advertising campaigns to propel the domestic gold and diamond jewellery sales.

According to Vinod Hayagriv, chairman of the Federation, it is targeting a 50 per cent growth in the retail jewellery turnover of the domestic jewellery industry by 2013. Currently, the retail jewellery trade in India is worth Rs 1,12,000 crore.

”We plan to achieve this by building consumer confidence through the development of uniform gold pricing across cities and states, by joint promotion programmes and joint advertising campaigns together with Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Rio Tinto (a multinational mining and exploration company), the World Gold Council, and others,” Hayagriv said.

He said the Federation is bring together WGC and Rio Tinto to help in various promotions for increasing the retail jewellery business in India.

The marketing budget for the promotions planned this year by manufacturers and retailers in the industry will be around Rs 30 crore.

The gem and jewellery industry, which has been affected by the global slowdown, is hoping for a fruitful year ahead.

The current situation is good with higher footfalls and less “recession fears,” said Hayagriv, who took over recently as chairman of the Federation for 2009-2011.

The industry, which has seen an impact of 20-30 per cent, should achieve 15 per cent growth this year, he added. “We expect the industry to grow at 15-18 per cent per annum in the next few years.”

For these tough times, Hayagriv stressed on educational programmes for front-line staff, increasing consumer confidence, and taking best practices from around the world, such as China and Hong Kong.

The Federation has a plan of action to revive the industry. Through a store certification programme called Trustmark, it hopes to bring to jewellers across the country organised management principles and quality control measures.

It proposes to “work closely with government and institutions to increase educational programmes and ensure training and development to employees across the country, organise and give recognition to the industry by developing a smart card programme.”