Jewellery retailer Malabar Gold & Diamonds is planning to go pan-India by 2015. As a prelude to this, in addition to having regional film actors such as Surya and Mohanlal, the company has signed on Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor as its brand ambassador – nationwide.

Currently it has stores in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat. Launching its new showroom in the country at Forum Vijaya Mall in Chennai on Wednesday, the company chairman M.P. Ahammed said the plan was to take its outlets beyond major cities and to newer geographies including Kolkata in the next few months.

“This is our 10{+t}{+h} store in Tamil Nadu and 89{+t}{+h} in the country. We intend to have 220 stores by 2015,” he said.

According to C.P. Renjith, Head of Marketing of the company, currently Malabar Gold is the second largest jewellery retail chain in the country after Tanishq (Titan), which has over 140 outlets across the country.

The company, though promoted by M.P. Ahammed, his family and friends, has over 1,500 individual investors with “minor stakes”. For every region, it has a different set of investors.

For example, for the Chennai region, it has floated a special purpose vehicle – Malabar Diamond Gallery Pvt Ltd, with several individuals including music composer Ilayaraja, Malayalam and Tamil film star Mohanlal, and West-Asia based Ravi Pillai, and A.V. Anoop, Managing Director of AVA Cholayil Health Care Pvt Ltd, as equity partners.

ravikumar.r@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics