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Industry
Diamonds Struggle at IIJS
Gold was strong, but diamond sales lackluster at the India International Jewellery Show.
By Zainab Morbiwala
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Actress Sonam Kapoor at IIJW.
Photo courtesy GJEPC. |
The India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) 2015 marked a new milestone for the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the organizer of the show. Held from August 6 to 10, this year’s event had a record list of more than 1,100 exhibitors and 2,000 booths. These included 200 new booths and 175 new exhibitors, out of which 50 companies belonged to the gem-set jewelry segment, 70 companies represented the plain gold jewelry segment and 50 new companies were from the loose stones category. However, the low turnout of international buyers was a cause for concern.
Expectations for this 32nd edition of the show were high from industry players, who have been looking for some respite from the sluggish market demand for gems and jewelry. While the gold jewelry section was the main attraction at the show, the diamond jewelry section, too, had a healthy flow of visitors, although business at the loose diamond section was not on par with what the participants anticipated. In response to the demand for synthetic diamonds and the spurt in education about gems and jewelry, which also includes the growing demand for laboratories, GJEPC introduced two new sections — Laboratories and Education and Synthetics and Simulants.
Paul Rowley, executive vice president, De Beers, Global Sightholder Sales, commented on the current industry dynamics. He pointed out, “The diamond industry has always been both seasonal and cyclical and we have certainly found ourselves going through a low point in the business cycle.” Rowley added some cheer when he shared De Beers prediction that there is enough demand at the consumer level to ensure that better times will return once the industry resolves the challenges around inventory imbalances that have dogged the midstream so far this year.
One of the early pioneers for branded diamond jewelry in India, Mehul Choksi is the man behind organizing jewelry retailing in the country. A regular at the IIJS for over a decade, Choksi’s Gitanjali Group with its assortment of brands — which include D’damas, Gili, Asmi among others — occupied considerable space at the show with its different booths for different brands. According to Choksi, IIJS 2015 did a good job of meeting the company’s expectations. Elaborating further he shared, “Where the India International Jewellery Week (IIJW) was not as glamorous as expected, I would rate the IIJS much more than meeting my expectations for gold. Diamond jewelry buying was close to half those expectations, but gold was almost sold out due to the prices of gold being low.” Although Choksi seemed to be pleased with the overall set up at the show, he pointed out that the influx of international buyers was less compared to previous years.
Reiterating this point, Kaushik Mehta, managing partner at Precigem, shared, “The show was good in terms of buyers from the domestic market, but as far as international visitors and buyers are concerned, it was a disappointment. What irked me was the fact that one of my guests from abroad was not allowed entry on the last day, saying they had closed the registration at 3:00 p.m. This was embarrassing for me since the buyer had specially flown into Mumbai for a meeting with us and to attend the show. If the show is on till 7:00 p.m., then it makes no sense at all to close the registration in the afternoon.” Like Choksi, Kaushik Mehta, too, was all praise for the response seen at the gold jewelry section.
For Chiraag Mehta, director, Adamas Jewellery Pvt. Ltd., the repositioning of his booth seemed to have helped him generate more foot traffic than the previous two years when he first participated in the show. “For us, the difference in foot traffic between 2014 and 2015 was huge,” he elaborated. “I would say the amount of traffic we received in the entire five days of IIJS 2014 was almost covered by the first two days of 2015. Our position at the show, along with our design collection, was responsible for this difference. I also noticed a lot of the visitors were actual buyers.” Commenting further, Chiraag Mehta shared, “Gold jewelry was a runaway success, though no surprises there considering the drop in price of gold over the past month. Diamond jewelry was bought more cautiously, price points and exclusive jewelry was taken into consideration while buying/ordering. Almost everyone in the loose section was complaining about foot traffic.”
Chiraag Mehta also noted the negligible presence of international buyers. He minced no words when he shared, “I have been noticing over the years — earlier, as a visitor, and now, as an exhibitor — that traffic of overseas customers is almost nonexistent. Considering the amount of loose stones and jewelry that is exported from India, we have surprisingly low turnout for our own show.”
One of the information technology solution providers for the gems and jewelry industry, Kashyap Mehta’s Diamond Technology Solutions has been participating at the IIJS since 2009. According to him, while the international companies are quick in adopting new technologies, the Indian companies take a while in doing so, although things seemed to have changed with the advent of online shopping. At this show, Kashyap Mehta made 200 new business leads, which pointed to an increased interest of companies in India looking to upgrade their technology. “From a technology perspective, we had a lot of interest generated in the new version of our E-Jewel-powered ecommerce solutions followed by inquiries in our enterprise-level software solutions and mobile apps,” he said.
GJEPC has focused on presenting IIJS with new zeal to create more enthusiasm in the industry and improve attendance each year. However, the flow of international visitors has to be strengthened further, considering IIJS is the most important business-to-business (B2B) show in India. This was a common complaint mentioned by this year’s attendees.
Keeping in mind the price of gold, the demand for gold jewelry at the show was high. On the other hand, loose diamonds suffered significantly. In light of India’s position as the biggest producer of cut and polished diamonds, the general consensus was that the industry as a whole needs to make a collaborative effort to push diamond demand. One industry player, speaking anonymously, suggested that GJEPC should be more active in organizing shows and other events abroad to promote Indian diamantaires and generate more interest in future IIJS shows.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - September 2015. To subscribe click here.
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