By Sreekumar Raghavan
KOCHI: If anything makes news other than politics or the upcoming elections in southern Indian state of Kerala, it is now gold. When parents of young girls about to get married worry about how far gold would go, gold jewelers are merrily opening more and more showrooms roping in leading stars of film world- be it Bollywood, Tollywood and Mollywood.

The most recent entrant in Kerala’s capital of Thiruvananthapuram was the 15,000-sq-f.t showroom of Kalyan Jewellers which started functioning from March 1. The showroom was inaugurated by leading actor and producer Dileep. Kalyan has plans to start a few more jewellery stores at Kottayam, Karur and Kozhikode.

Earlier, leading Malayalam actress Kavya Madhavan who came along with family to Prince Jewellery and southern Indian heartthrob Nayantara who inaugurated the Prince Jewellery showroom recently drew huge crowds with police, security men having a tough time controlling them. Of course, Nayantara disappointed the media by setting a pre-condition to the organizers that she won’t open her mouth on personal or film issues. Bollywood Star Sridevi for Jos Alukka and Sons, Mohan Lal and Hema Malini for Malabar Gold are the prominent stars promoting jewellery in Kerala.

Gold’s Own Country (Kerala, the greenest state in India, promotes tourism as God’s Own Country) boasts of the largest number of jewellery showrooms in the world. Alapatt Jewellery rated as one of the finest and largest of its kind in India a total of 9000 sq.ft on the ground, first and second floors of House of Alapatt in Kochi.. The entire second floor houses the exclusive state of the art Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, Zaveri Bazar, Mumbai’s Diamond Jewellery showroom.

In the United States you might find the largest and biggest shopping malls in the world but when it comes to jewellery, Kerala would easily beat them. Some time back, sitting in the first floor of his 12,500-sq-ft jewellery complex on M G Road in Ernakulam, Antony Alapatt of Alapatt Heritage told Commodity Online, “America’s largest jewellery showroom would be just half the size of ours.”

Buying ornaments and investing in gold is part of the culture of Keralites for generations. In the olden times the royal families in the state used to be fond of gold ornaments.

“My grandfather used to get invitation from the Tripunithara Royal Palace in Kochi. He used to go to the palace along with his goldsmith and find out their design requirements. Our goldsmith would then stay there and make gold ornaments for them,” says Ramesh S Pai of A Geeripai Jewellery.

A Geeripai could easily stake its claim to be the oldest jewellery shop in the state. It was started 107 years ago in Broadway, Ernakulam, much before the famed Bhima Jewellery set up shop in Alapuzha in 1925. “We have cash bill books that are more than 76 years old,” Ramesh said. Now the Alukkas, Alapatt, Chemmanur, Josco, Malabar Gold and the grand old Bhima are all on an expansion spree in India and abroad.

Jos Alukkas, Alukkas Jewellery, Alapatt Jewellery are all expanding across India even as jewellery retailers like Tanishq, Khazana and Prince Jewellery based outside the state are opening showrooms in Kerala.

Arrens Gold Souk International Ltd, a real estate developer, is setting up a shopping mall in Kochi in 2.5 acres of land in Vytills where one of the focus areas will be gold ornament showrooms. The mall will have reputed jewellers from both India and abroad. Leading Indian jewellers such as Joy Alukkas and Alapatt have already signed up for Gold Souk.

The Souk, with 5,00,000 square feet of retail space is the discerning shoppers ultimate getaway. Being the first and largest mall in the commercial capital of Kerala, it has been exclusively zoned to provide a state-of-the-art shopping experience to Keralites, shoppers from neighbouring cities and the large NRI population. It was designed by W.S. Atkins, the designer of the famed Burj-al-Arab, Dubai.

What accounts for the rapid increase in jewellery shop space in Kochi and all over Kerala? God’s Own Country is estimated to account for one-third of the 800-odd tonne annual consumption of gold in the country

How far could this competition and growth be sustainable. Many feel that small jewellers would gradually be driven out of business just as factory made jewellery has eaten into the livelihood of traditional goldsmiths. People now look for quality and purity of ornaments. They look for 916 purity and BIS hall marking. Here the large shops have an edge and variety. Large jewellery houses are now invading smaller towns and villages.

For a 2,000-sq-ft showroom more than 25 salesmen would be required apart from interiors. Pre-launch advertisement costs for major showrooms are anywhere in the range of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore, according to market sources. On the negative side, road congestion, lack of parking space, longer hours required to travel to city would all be unfavourable for the business growth of large shops in urban areas. “Why travel one hour to buy one sovereign of gold. They can easily get it from a nearby smaller shop?.”

BRAND BUILDING
It was the Joy Alukkas Group that set the major trend in promotional schemes to lure gold buyers when it set up set up a wedding centre at Kochi at a cost of Rs 50 crore. It gave away 32 Maruti cars in a lucky draw in 2006. Joy Alukkas which has spread its wings to Delhi, Hyderabad, Madurai, Tiruchirapally, Salem, Bangalore and Dubai,
believes “it is easy to start a new showroom but very difficult to run it efficiently”.

Joy Alukkas’ strength lies in his personal attention to get the best location, attractive promotional offers and a creative eye on ads. Not surprisingly, the group has set its eyes beyond the moon by aiming for a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore by 2010.

M P Ahamed of Malabar Gold, which started its first showroom in 1993, has now over 11 showrooms within Kerala and outside. He personally studies each location in terms of business potential, social and political conditions before deciding to set up shop. Malabar Gold also went for an expensive brand building exercise involving cine stars Mohanlal and Hema Malini and tennis sensation Sania Mirza. The Malabar Gold group has also branched off into manufacture of gold jewellery, its own branded gold, precious watches, readymades, retail and real estate.

STATE PATRONAGE
Now the State Government has also started patronizing the jewellery industry that employs lakhs of people. The Kerala Government recently patronized a three-day business to business Jewellery event, Kerala Gem and Jewellery show in Kochi which was organized by Indian Magazine, The Art of Jewellery on November 14-16th.

The exhibition attracted a host of gold jewellers, retailers, manufacturers, designers, artisans and wholesalers who networked and exhibited their latest products. Elamaram Kareem, State Industries Minister said that the government was taking all steps to support the jewellery sector and was planning to turn the show into an annual event that coincides with the Kerala Shopping Festival.

The event is intended to boost trade in the state, one of the largest jewellery producers in south India, bringing retailers into direct contact with manufacturers from across the country.

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