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India's first jewelery mart to woo UAE retailers
Friday, 03 January 2003, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: The promoters of India's first state-of-the-art jewellery mart, to be unveiled in April 2004, have decided to use roadshows to attract retailers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Gold Souk, promoted by New Delhi-based real estate firm Aerens Group of Companies, will showcase domestic and international brands under a single roof and encourage export and retail of gold.
"We have decided to kick off roadshows in Dubai and other parts of the UAE from the second week of this month to attract a large number of jewellery retailers for the mart," said Amit Gupta, vice chairman of Aerens Group.
"We have already received very encouraging response from leading jewellery retailers in the UAE for Gold Souk. Some deals are likely to be finalised during the
roadshows there."
Gupta told IANS that Alukkas, a leading jewellery retailer with braches all over the Middles East, had booked space in the mart. "We hope to attract many more retailers," he said.
He said the company would also hold roadshows in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand over the next couple of months.
The mart, spread over an area of 180,000 sq ft, is being built a Gurgaon, on the outskirts of the national capital, with an investment of 
600 million. The Indian chapter of the World Gold Council is supporting the project.
Gold Souk aims to assemble reputed jewellery retailers from all over India and abroad to showcase the best of their brands. The mart will also encourage wholesale trade and export in gold.
"The jewellery mart will provide international shopping experience and ambience to customers," said Gupta.
"Currently jewellery retailers are scattered across the cities in India, offering very little scope to customers in terms of variety and preview. Quality control measures in most retail shops are near absent."
India, the world's largest consumer of gold, has about 20,000 jewellers. Most Indian consumers buy gold ornaments from trusted jewellers and few seek quality checks. In any case most shops lack such facility.
"We will encourage hallmarking of gold by the Bureau of Indian Standards to protect consumers against irregular gold quality and develop the industry's export competitiveness.
"We will integrate jewellery offerings with other lifestyle products to ensure regular visits by customers to the mart. The mart will also house a food court, children's play room, recreation room and exhibition space," said Gupta.
Under the hallmarking scheme, jewellers have to ensure homogeneity of batches of gold ornaments by following a Bureau of Indian Standards approved mechanism of testing and inspection.
India's gold demand fell 40 percent in the first quarter of the year that ended March 31, 2002, to 149.8 tonnes from 249.7 tonnes during the same period in 2001 due to high prices.
The country imported 53 percent less gold in January-March at 84.7 tonnes, down from 182.1 tonnes in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. According to the World Gold Council, gold demand rose to 855 tonnes in 2001 from about 838 tonnes the previous year.
Gupta said his company was planning to set up nearly 15 jewellery marts over a period of five years "to stimulate consumption of gold in the country by offering high quality shopping ambience and brand value.
"We have received very good response from leading jewellery retailers in the country and some overseas retailers for our first mart. This has encouraged us to replicate the project in a phased manner in other cities too.
"We have already identified locations in Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Ludhiana. Each of the marts in these cities will incur an investment of between 500 million to 600 million, depending on the real estate costs."
Source: IANS
600 million. The Indian chapter of the World Gold Council is supporting the project.
Gold Souk aims to assemble reputed jewellery retailers from all over India and abroad to showcase the best of their brands. The mart will also encourage wholesale trade and export in gold.
"The jewellery mart will provide international shopping experience and ambience to customers," said Gupta.
"Currently jewellery retailers are scattered across the cities in India, offering very little scope to customers in terms of variety and preview. Quality control measures in most retail shops are near absent."
India, the world's largest consumer of gold, has about 20,000 jewellers. Most Indian consumers buy gold ornaments from trusted jewellers and few seek quality checks. In any case most shops lack such facility.
"We will encourage hallmarking of gold by the Bureau of Indian Standards to protect consumers against irregular gold quality and develop the industry's export competitiveness.
"We will integrate jewellery offerings with other lifestyle products to ensure regular visits by customers to the mart. The mart will also house a food court, children's play room, recreation room and exhibition space," said Gupta.
Under the hallmarking scheme, jewellers have to ensure homogeneity of batches of gold ornaments by following a Bureau of Indian Standards approved mechanism of testing and inspection.
India's gold demand fell 40 percent in the first quarter of the year that ended March 31, 2002, to 149.8 tonnes from 249.7 tonnes during the same period in 2001 due to high prices.
The country imported 53 percent less gold in January-March at 84.7 tonnes, down from 182.1 tonnes in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. According to the World Gold Council, gold demand rose to 855 tonnes in 2001 from about 838 tonnes the previous year.
Gupta said his company was planning to set up nearly 15 jewellery marts over a period of five years "to stimulate consumption of gold in the country by offering high quality shopping ambience and brand value.
"We have received very good response from leading jewellery retailers in the country and some overseas retailers for our first mart. This has encouraged us to replicate the project in a phased manner in other cities too.
"We have already identified locations in Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Ludhiana. Each of the marts in these cities will incur an investment of between 500 million to 600 million, depending on the real estate costs."
Source: IANS