Season’s golden words: Make it light, jeweller

CHENNAI: Jewellers are betting on lightweight jewellery to smoothen the impact of soaring gold prices ahead of Diwali festive season.
Jewellers say that with economic instability and fluctuating currencies, prices are expected to go up further. “There is a lot of instability and we have no idea how things might turn out during the festive season,” said G R Radhakrishnan, managing director of GRT Jewellery.
Gold prices hit a record high of 32,450 per 10 gm on Saturday, landing consumers who want to buy gold soon, in trouble. “My daughter’s wedding is fixed and I have to buy gold by October, but at these prices, it looks like I will have to reduce the number of items to buy,” said a homemaker.
Jewellers, however, bank on the Indian tradition to help sales even during such volatile times, and are looking at avenues to attract customers to buy gold. “While customers are bothered about rising prices, I believe there is a hunger for gold jewellery in our country. People might postpone purchases until prices stabilise, or might buy less, but they will not desist from buying jewellery altogether,” said Pratap Kamath of Bangalore-based Abharan Jewellers.
Lightweight jewellery, hence, seems to be the answer. Rajesh Mehta, chairman of Rajesh Exports which manufactures and exports gold jewellery, said the company now gets more orders for lightweight jewellery. Companies like NAC Jewellers have now begun retailing a variety of lightweight products. “Earlier, we only had lightweight necklaces and pendants, but now we are looking at lightweight products across the board like antiques and temple jewellery,” said Anantha Padmanabhan, managing director of NAC Jewellers. “We hope the government pitches in to ease the situation by slashing import duties,” he said.