Kirtilals eyes South India for expansion

Cashing in on the burgeoning demand for gold and diamond in India, Coimbatore-based diamond and gold jewellery manufacturer and retailer Kirtilals is eyeing South India for its expansion.

Talking to Deccan Herald, Kirtilals Chairman Kaushik K Mehta said, “We are concentrating only on South India, with ten stores. We contemplate adding 50-60 stores in the next 5 years. We would like to open shop in all major cities and tier-II towns with bigger income, and to see that our clients cherish the jewellery they buy from us forever.”
“South India is very dear to us as here we began selling quality diamonds. We opened our first store in 1939.”

Kirtilals has launched a wide range of contemporary bridal diamond and gold jewellery for the season. This festive season Kirtilals has announced a host of exclusive offers like purchase of diamond jewellery in six easy installments, first of its kind in India; a discount of Rs 3,000 per carat on the diamond price and a discount of Rs 125 per gram on gold jewellery.

Mehta pointed out that the Indian diamond industry has established itself as the world’s largest manufacturing centre of cut and polished diamonds for the last many years, contributing over 60 per cent of the world’s supply in terms of value. 

He claimed that Kirtilals sells best quality diamond jewellery at affordable prices, which are at least, 40-45 per cent cheaper than the same sold in Europe and America, as Indian consumers are price concious.

“We work more on larger volume with lower margins, he said, adding that with an annual sales turnover of Rs 400 crore Kirtilals is seeing a growth of 30 per cent compared to last year.

He also explained that investment in diamonds is lucrative because diamond jewellery bought 5 years ago, is worth double in value today, though wild fluctuations in gold prices in the last two years have adversely affected the diamond jewellery business in India.