City of pearls or diamonds?

EVERY MORNING, about six years ago, Ahmed used to pick up children from Road No. 5, Banjara Hills, to be dropped at Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, in his auto-rickshaw. As he crossed the Panjagutta-Somajiguda stretch, he would watch those good old jewellery shops which dealt in pearl jewellery.

Hyderabad was the `City of pearls' then. Now, the same stretch makes one wonder if the city is still synonymous with pearls alone.

Down memory lane

A walk down the road takes you to a different world - the world of diamonds, with the burgeoning showrooms trading in diamond jewellery opening up new vistas and choices for traditional Hyderabadis. About 400 years ago, a few kilometres ahead of the Panjagutta circle, was Golconda — where the Mountain of Light (Kohinoor diamond) and Hope Diamond were sold. All buyers would go back to their respective towns, satisfied.

But today, the buyers are Hyderabadis who are here to stay and the sellers are from different parts of the country. However, "people from the Krishna and the Godavari belt still contribute the maximum to the trade because of their solid wealth," says V.R.Gunashekar of Kirtilals jewellery showroom. And one aspect the experienced store manager noticed is "the NRI movement from the State, and the city in particular, is the highest in the country. They are the ones who invest in gold and diamond jewellery to be given away as gifts. "

Fast-growing market

That Hyderabad is a growing market for diamonds is an accepted fact today. Many outsiders who have made forays into the Hyderabadi jewellery market vouch for the fact. "As for the sale of diamond jewellery, our branch has consistently beaten the whole of the North put together for almost 20 days in succession. That includes Mumbai and New Delhi too," says an elated Jayant Biswas, manager, Tanishq at Punjagutta. Today, they have regular customers who realise the value of diamonds. "Our customers understood that nothing can destroy a diamond and so the ratio of plain gold versus diamond studded jewellery has touched the 50:50 mark in the store," he adds.

Almost all the jewellers agree that besides quality, the four `C's — cut, colour, clarity and carat — are valid points to be understood before buying diamond jewellery. And, the vital players in this trade believe in educating the customer about this precious stone.

Keep it light

Earlier, people used to hesitate to buy the invaluable gem because of certain superstitions but now, the well-informed customer knows what to believe. Though lightweight jewellery is the order of the day — picked up by youngsters and working women — there are those who request for custom-made studded jewellery a la the beautiful handcrafted pieces owned by the Nizams once.

The purchasing power of people has gone up by a few notches which makes diamonds that much more alluring. The fact of the matter is that "there are youngsters who purchase pendants, finger rings and earrings to be given away as gifts to their friends," says Bhimesh at Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri showroom. A fact reiterated by Dev Malhotra, store manager, Lifestyle, Begumpet: "Though I cannot call it impulse buying, there are specific gifting seasons like Valentine's Day and Friendship Day when youngsters buy trinkets in the range of Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000."

Who are the buyers?

But, who exactly is buying the jewellery? Is it just the newly rich crowd from the upscale localities of Hyderabad? "Not exactly. The starting range of our jewellery is Rs. 2,000-Rs. 2,500 which makes it affordable to even the middle classes. Earlier, people would go to their traditional jeweller with diamonds (bought on their trip abroad) and get it custom-made. The modern consumer has different tastes," says Biju John of InterGold, Somajiguda, who foresees about 200-250 per cent rise in the sales in the next few years.

Price wise, though the sparkling cut stone still runs into some lakhs, no doubt it has become affordable to many (starts at Rs. 1,000 for pendants). So what if De Beers invested Rs. 400 crores in Boom to market their diamonds, we can invest in our own small way. And while the Hyderabadis debate whether the city should be called `City of pearls' or rechristened `City of diamonds', let's take the big decision, now.

SHANTI NANISETTI