The year started on a sombre note for jewellers following the choppy global prices of gold and then two months of strike to protest the 1-per cent excise duty. However, demand is coming back and Akshaya Tritiya may be a trigger jewellers are looking for.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV India , Gitanjali Group’s Chairman and Managing Director Mehul Choksi says the industry is gearing up to make up the loss suffered during March and April in the coming months. The silver-lining is exports have been strong this year, he said.

Gold prices have gone up. Will it be good for your inventories? Will the demand from smaller cities see some traction? After the strike, how is demand looking like? What demand traction are you expecting during Akshaya Tritiya?

After the strike, the markets opened very recently. So, the prices have to really settle down and the prices of gold have also been volatile. But, this is a very important Akshaya Tritiya as this . So, probably we feel there could be traction today because prices have stabilised at this price and gold is not likely go down anytime soon in the near future. Normally, they bring approximately 3-5-per cent business for the entire year. We expect aggressive buying during the day. So The price increase will help the entire jewellery market. And I generally believe that price could remain at this level. I feel the traction could come from this day.

How do you see gold jewellery demand panning out in coming months? Do you see greater demand in the lower ticket size items such as bangles and chains?

Yes. The light-weight items are preferred always. It is also moving to diamond jewellery because there is gold there too. But certainly, it is more towards the lighter side and more fashion-oriented.

Could you take us through the factors that contributed in the lagged retail demand this time around?

Unfortunately, this strike happened just before the peak of the marriage season. One very important factor is that this marriage season is going to get over approximately within one month. So, we have lost some time and need to catch up. Otherwise the next season is from August to Diwali (October). At the same time, as far as gold is concerned you never know; there could be frenzy anytime once people feel confident that it is a good price to buy and I hope there is stability as far as the old price is concerned so that the people can decide on the issue.

There must have been some unfulfilled demands due to non-availability of certain products because of the strike period. The industry is expecting a 15-20 per cent growth. Are you in sync with that kind of growth going ahead?

Yes. I think the next month could be a very strong one. There could be a buying in and there could be a 10-15-per cent growth in the coming one month and a half.

We just interacted with the management of Titan and their sales in jewellery as well as watches segment have been curtailed. In general, what segment suffered the most in terms of the strike period? And can you quantify it?

The gold jewellery segment, in particular the standalone stores in the streets, were very badly affected during this time. As far as diamond jewellery is concerned, you find them more in malls and sales continued there. But overall, we have lost two months of very important part of the season. Probably, it has pulled down sales by about 5-7 per cent. We hope to make it up in 1-2 months.

What about exports?

Exports have been very strong this year both in diamond and jewellery because the US has well stabilised, Europe is coming back to normal and China has also brought in much better business situation.

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